Is this an attempt to scapegoat the London Fire Brigade for the Grenfell disaster?

Ruin: Firefighters risked their lives in Grenfell Tower – not just while the building was burning but afterwards, as they searched among the rubble for residents.

This seems extremely sinister.

We know that the Grenfell Tower disaster was caused by a faulty kitchen appliance.

It was then accelerated by the fact that the tower had no sprinkler system because landlords working for Kensington and Chelsea Council did not consider it necessary.

And of course the same landlords had installed “fire resistant” cladding that instead hugely worsened the blaze.

Right?

But no real action has been taken against either the landlord organisation or the council.

And now the fire brigade that handled the blaze has been interviewed under caution by police over potential health and safety breaches to do with the policy to tell people to stay in their flats while the fire raged outside.

But the “stay put” policy had been imposed by landlords the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) and was standard policy for a high-rise building in the United Kingdom. 

It relies on the assumption that construction standards such as concrete and fire-resistant doors will allow firefighters to contain a fire within one flat – which was impossible in Grenfell Tower, which was not built to a standard that made this possible.

It seems clear that firefighters followed nationwide guidelines that were understood to be the best course at the time, and changed their plans when they realised that these guidelines had proved ineffective.

Blame for this ineffectiveness must fall on builders who used substandard materials, the landlord who decided that the proper materials and safety methods were not necessary, the council that employed that landlord, and the Tory government that relaxed safety requirements – making it possible for actions that endangered residents to happen.

I remember the eyewitness accounts of firefighters coming out of that inferno. It was clear that not only had they done everything they could to get as many people as possible out of danger; they had put themselves in considerable danger to do so.

But now it seems attempts are being made to blame them.

Who ordered this investigation into the Fire Service? What was their motivation for doing so?

And shouldn’t they be made to feel ashamed?

London Fire Brigade officials have been interviewed under caution by police investigating the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Scotland Yard detectives questioned the body over its duty to protect the public and its own employees from health and safety risks.

Source: Grenfell Tower fire: London Fire Brigade officials interviewed under caution by police over disaster | The Independent

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(
but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Donate Button with Credit Cards

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.


The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook

latest video

news via inbox

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

No Comments

  1. Jeffrey davies September 16, 2019 at 11:07 am - Reply

    Just like those who served the country attack them later on remember that those firemen had said they were walking over bodies but only under a hundred official figure can you ever believe this government sais

  2. Justin September 16, 2019 at 11:12 am - Reply

    this is beyond belief, the police should be interviewing the real causes not a fire brigade that had had services cut by boris Johnson who incidently felt spending money on riot control vehicles that they could not use was more important than high rise tenders and who if I remember right shut 20 fire stations

  3. Tony Dean September 16, 2019 at 11:18 am - Reply

    Interviews under caution are standard practice, where deaths are involved, there is nothing sinister about it.

  4. snorfmelting September 16, 2019 at 11:25 am - Reply

    DISGUSTING TRYING TO INFER BLAME ON THE LFB FOR THE TORIES THIS SICKENING

  5. Jonno R September 16, 2019 at 11:40 am - Reply

    I wish the police would interview the leaders of this government and ATOS for the crimes they have committed such as mass murder and fraud as well as the human rights violations by the DWP. There have been enough decisions made that would inevitably cause harm there can’t be a shortage of evidence. I managed to survive their attempts to kill me but only just and my life will be shorter due to my liver eating itself during 5 years of starvation. I clearly explained what would happen to me if they continued to deny me of my rights and have proof that they made decisions while deliberately ignoring evidence and denying they had made illegal decisions even though their own records prove it. If i walked into a police station to report it how far would i get?

  6. hugosmum70 September 16, 2019 at 11:54 am - Reply

    i can verify this policy. an ex neighbour of mine, who i kept in touch with after she went into a sheltered housing flat told me of these rules. its not only high rise buildings this applies to.. these flats were only ground and first floor flats. the building no higher. their fire safety rules which she read out to me when she first moved in told them in case of fire not to use lifts.if they couldnt get downstairs safely via the stairs (and there were a few wheelchair/mobility scooter users on that floor) to stay in their flat. if the flat had a balcony to get onto that(it did, just big enough for 2 people with no moving room.)… even in those cases its going to be pretty dangerous.

  7. R September 16, 2019 at 12:49 pm - Reply

    You could consider my point pedantic but, from what I’ve read and heard from firefighters who attended, it would be more accurate to say the standards the tower was originally built to were fine, it was the modifications to the building which breached the safety of the original standards (changes to the size and number of units, stairs, cladding etc.).

  8. Darren Woodiwiss September 16, 2019 at 8:54 pm - Reply

    My recollection is Grenfell did meet the fire safety standards originally (only gleaned from documentaries) but that the concrete had been punched through by contractors for clumsy upgrades to heating systems and that sub standard fire doors had been added.

  9. Barry September 17, 2019 at 9:11 am - Reply

    Hopefully the court will vindicate the fire brigade and point the fingers at those truly responsible for what happened, the stay put advice is used throughout the world.

    • Mike Sivier September 17, 2019 at 12:53 pm - Reply

      I’m not sure it will get to court.

  10. xpressanny September 18, 2019 at 12:04 pm - Reply

    It is an utter disgrace. Councillors who caused this disaster get off without even a backward glance. I will never, ever forget seeing those firefighters – both men & women – after working all night just sleeping on the ground exhausted. Whilst those who caused it were nowhere to be seen. And now these brave fire fighters have to defend themselves AGAIN? It’s utterly disgraceful.
    You know something I submitted a proposal for all those young lads from the local Mosque who ran into that burning building and save many lives, to Pride of Britain. No need to know the outcome of that. No one in MSM wasn’t to know truth or print it, just oppress the real heroes like those boys and the men and women of Fire Service. How did we ever get to this state of affairs.

Leave A Comment