Tag Archives: blaze

Brexit – and Grenfell – reveal two faces of Theresa May within a single day

Former prime minister Theresa May seemed to have developed a backbone when she stood up to Boris Johnson over his Brexit u-turn – but that’s only if you haven’t noticed her betrayal of the dead of Grenfell, that happened less than 24 hours before.

As the Johnson government introduced new legislation into Parliament, contradicting the withdrawal agreement that Johnson himself negotiated and signed, Mrs May had this to say about it:

It was a principled stand, and won support in the social media from those of us who understood what she meant:

Of course, there were some well-aimed barbs too:

But while we may praise Mrs May for her response to the withdrawal agreement, er… withdrawal, she has disgraced herself over the response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

May was prime minister when the London tower block was engulfed in flames, due to the fact that it was covered in highly-flammable cladding.

She said at the time that she would work to make sure no such tragedy ever happened again.

Well, cladding on another London block caught fire with the same effect between then and now – fortunately with no fatalities.

And yesterday, Mrs May happily voted to ensure that the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry – including the removal of such cladding from private and publicly-owned residential properties – will not be implemented by the government:

We cannot praise her comments on Brexit without condemning her actions on Grenfell.

I agree with Mr Patel (above):

Never trust a Tory.

Johnson visits Bolton and has nothing to say. Pathetic

Boris Johnson: Is there any point in him meeting anybody at all? He can’t offer them anything.

Boris Johnson visited Bolton visited Bolton, saw donations of food and clothing, met students who had been affected by the blaze on Friday… but had nothing to say.

He didn’t offer any government support, it seems. Nor did he make any pledges to prevent any further fires caused by the same thing.

He might as well have stayed at home.

Others, like Labour Metropolitan Mayor Andy Burnham, focused on the fact that the Tories in government have done little to address the threat of inflammable cladding on buildings.

They provided funding to remove aluminium composite material (ACM) – the cladding that was used on Grenfell Tower, but did nothing about other flammable cladding substances such as we have just discovered was all over The Cube in Bolton.

Now they have nothing to offer – to the students affected by the fire, and to the public in general.

Source: Bolton flats fire: Housing chief attacks ‘cladding lottery’ as pressure turns on Boris Johnson – Mirror Online

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Bolton cladding fire suggests Conservatives did NOTHING after Grenfell – other than blame firefighters

Tory response: This satirical image from Twitter reflects the public opinion of blame-shifting Tories.

Wasn’t there a warning that Grenfell Tower could happen all over again, if flammable cladding was not removed from the many other buildings across the UK that had it?

I think there was.

And were the residents at the Cube, student accommodation in Bolton assured that the cladding on that building was not the same as that used on Grenfell Tower?

I think they were:

Then, last night (November 15), this happened:

It seems clear that the cladding on the building was spreading the fire. And look at the way it was dripping, molten, to the ground outside:

According to Skwawkbox, “BBC now stressing the cladding in the #BoltonFire wasn’t the same flammable cladding used on Grenfell Tower. Just some other flammable cladding, so that’s ok then…”

But The Guardian has more useful information: “Students at the Cube had been visited by fire safety officers following the Grenfell Tower fire and assured that the building was not clad in the same material, the Bolton News reported.

“However, the planned cladding materials on one part of the facade included aluminium composite panels (ACM) or fibre cement panels, and high pressure laminated panels (HPL) fixed to timber battens on another, according to drawings submitted by RADM Architects to Bolton’s planning department in 2014. It is not yet clear which of these materials were used.

“ACM panels are filled with polyethylene, which, as at Grenfell, can be highly combustible or can contain a fire retardant to make them safer. HPL panels, made of compressed paper or wood fibre, also come with different combustibility ratings.”

It is all very well saying the cladding wasn’t the same as in Grenfell – but if it is still inflammable, then the students were in danger. They had a right to know this but it seems they weren’t told.

In this context, it is a miracle that only two people were injured.

And that miracle allows us to examine the political aspect of this – which is disastrous for the Conservatives.

Boris Johnson’s party had more than two years to clear flammable cladding from all the buildings in the UK that were in danger. They didn’t.

Why not? Was it expensive?

In the light of their current splurge-spending plans, offered in a desperate bid to bribe the electorate away from Labour’s better, costed plans to revitalise the nation, that would be an insult of possibly criminal dimensions.

And it is clear that the failure to take action constitutes a danger to the lives of the many thousands of people living in cladded tower blocks across the UK.

Those people should consider this very carefully when placing their vote in the general election.

Labour’s John Healey has said: “If … reports are right that the cladding has contributed to this fire, then the Government has serious questions to answer.

“As figures released this week show, two and a half years after the Grenfell Tower fire, thousands of tower block residents are still living in homes with deadly cladding. This should shame the Conservatives and they must now act to make all buildings safe.”

You can take that as a promise that a Labour government will take such action.

This Writer would like an inquiry into the issue of cladding, and the companies that have been responsible for it. Is it all flammable? Or is some of it safe? And can those responsible for covering buildings with life-endangering material be prosecuted for it?

Shouldn’t those in the Tory government who didn’t have it removed be prosecuted, also?

It is certain that the principle of collective responsibility applies – everybody in the Conservative government must take the responsibility for allowing this danger to continue.

And everybody living in a cladded building should take responsibility for ending that danger – by voting the Conservatives out.

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Vox Political proved right again as London Fire Brigade scapegoated for Grenfell fire

Inferno: The Grenfell Tower blaze caused the greatest single loss of life in London since World War II, with official figures showing 72 people lost their lives.

This should make your blood boil.

After their heroism on the night of the Grenfell Tower inferno, it seems the London Fire Brigade is being blamed for the loss of 72 lives as a result of the blaze.

This Site predicted as much in September, when LFB members were 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.

Now retired high court judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who led the inquiry, has said many lives could have been saved if her officers had identified sooner that the fire was out of control and told residents to evacuate.

But isn’t it true that 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?

He found that the LFB failed to train its incident commanders and firefighters in how to recognise the need for evacuation or in the dangers of combustible cladding.

But he also said there was “compelling evidence that the external walls of the building failed to comply with requirements” of building regulations governing fire safety. They didn’t adequately resist the spread of fire – “on the contrary they actively promoted it”.

And his conclusion that “the principal reason why the flames spread so rapidly up the building” was its aluminium composite panels and the “melting and dripping of burning polyethylene” was contrary to the evidence of cladding panel manufacturer Arconic.

This suggests that, even though senior officers had been briefed on the risk of cladding fires from high-rise blazes abroad, they had no reason to believe that Grenfell might fall prey to such an event.

So the LFB had no way of knowing that Grenfell would suffer such a cladding fire and in any case it was bound by a policy imposed by the tower’s landlord.

And we are expected to accept that the LFB deserves the blame for it. What a travesty.

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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

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Barking fire blamed on cladding – and safety fears were downplayed. Grenfell Mk 2?

The conflagration in De Pass Gardens, Barking, was due to cladding breaking fire while safety concerns were ignored, it seems.

According to the Guardian‘s report (link below), it is believed the fire spread after someone lit a barbecue on a balcony.

The flames reached the wooden cladding that covered the building and, despite claims that it was flame-retardant and perfectly safe, spread across the whole building rapidly.

Apparently the sprinkler system did not work.

Concerns had been raised about possible fire safety problems in early May, after the BBC’s Watchdog programme had highlighted fire safety problems at a development by the same builder – Bellway Homes – in Scotland.

An email from Bellway Homes said the construction method in Barking was different and therefore the De Pass Gardens development would not be affected the same way.

But the company had hired a fire safety warden to patrol the building in order to address unspecified concerns.

It all seems highly reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower fire of almost exactly two years ago.

On June 14, 2017, fire ripped through the allegedly-flameproof cladding on Grenfell Tower, despite residents having been assured that it was safe. There was no sprinkler system.

That blaze killed 72 people.

The Conservative government of the day – almost exactly the same administration as the current Conservative government – promised that lessons would be learned (the old mantra) but here we are again.

It seems clear that building regulations are not robust enough to ensure the safety of tower block residents, their homes and their possessions.

I recall another Conservative government – that of David Cameron – promising a “bonfire of red tape”, scrapping regulaations on the basis that they were not necessary.

Is this the reason the people of Barking were endangered yesterday, their homes and possessions destroyed? If so, who will face prosecution for the threat against the residents’ lives?

Source: Barking fire: residents claim safety fears about flats were downplayed | UK news | The Guardian

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Huge fire in NEWLY-BUILT block of flats. Is this how the Tory government learned the lessons of Grenfell?

As I type these words, around 100 firefighters are battling a blaze in a tower block on De Pass Gardens, Barking, in London.

The cause is not known. There are no known injuries, and evacuation procedures are in place.

But there is no avoiding the obvious question: Why has this happened after the Tory government promised to learn the lessons of Grenfell?

Look at the strength of this fire, as shown in the following footage:

And did you read the comment about the cladding? Builders had been challenge about it only weeks ago, and said it was “fire retardant and perfectly safe”.

Does it look safe to you?

Sadly, it seems to be exactly the same stupidity as at Grenfell.

I’m sure you and I will look forward to the mealy-mouthed excuses that will flow from the same sources we heard after Grenfell. I hope there will be much less tolerance for them this time.

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Council worker steals money meant for Grenfell victims while authorities continue to ignore its lessons

Jenny McDonagh.

The contempt in which Kensington and Chelsea council holds its social housing tenants is breathtaking.

For months, we asked what was happening to the money that had been raised to help the survivors of the blaze who had lost their homes and possessions – and were told it was all well in hand.

And it was – in the hands of a dishonest council finance manager who stole more than £60,000 of it and frittered it away on her own pleasures.

Isn’t that par for the course with Tory councils like K&C? They and their employees don’t consider the money they handle belongs to the people; they think it is for their own benefit.

That’s how it seems to me.

And we have evidence that councils across London – not just K&C – are ignoring the lessons of Grenfell. For example, they are still turning their backs on the concerns raised by residents.

So, after the deaths of so many people (I don’t believe only 72 lost their lives in that horror), it’s business as usual for the bureaucrats.

Let’s hope we all remember that, next time there’s an election.

A [council] finance manager splashed out on trips around the world, gambling and fancy dinners using money meant for the Grenfell Tower fire victims.

Jenny McDonagh, from Kensington and Chelsea Council, has admitted defrauding around £60,000 from the victim fund.

She withdrew a total of £62,000 meant for survivors of the tragedy and victims’ grieving family members using pre-paid credit cards.

She spent the funds on trips to Dubai and Los Angeles, expensive dinners and online gambling.

The 39-year-old, from Abbey Wood, South East London, pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud, one of theft and another of concealing criminal property at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday.

She was bailed for sentencing at a later date.

Source: Kensington and Chelsea council worker admits spending £60k of Grenfell victims’ money on holidays and gambling – Mirror Online

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Fire union chief attacks terms of Grenfell inquiry – because they will not identify the culprits

Work begins on covering Grenfell Tower with protective wrapping [Image: Tang/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock].

This Writer agrees with, supports and applauds the words of Matt Wrack, head of the Fire Brigades Union.

It seems clear that Theresa May wants a whitewash. She must not be allowed to have her way.

So what is to be done?

The head of the Fire Brigades Union, whose members rushed to save Grenfell Tower residents, has criticised the failure to have the judge-led inquiry into the disaster look at its social and political context.

Matt Wrack said that under its current terms the investigation would fail to answer crucial questions. He said it seemed designed to protect Whitehall from scrutiny and would exacerbate the hurt felt by survivors and the families of those who died.

Wrack said: “How is it remotely possible to seriously examine the causes, spread and results of the fire without examining ‘social, economic and political’ matters?”

He called the decision a “mighty kick of some really fundamental issues into some very long grass”. “There is clearly no intent from government for any wider inquiry or serious debate,” he said.

Source: Fire chief criticises terms of inquiry into Grenfell Tower blaze | UK news | The Guardian

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