Historical Article: The Grenfell Tower Fire

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72 people died, 2 more later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 233 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the UK since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil platform disaster. It was also the worst UK residential fire since World War 2. The fire started from an electrical fault in a fridge on the fourth floor. This spread rapidly up the building’s exterior, bringing flames and smoke to all residential floors. The fire was declared a major incident with more than 250 London fire brigade firefighters and 70 fire engines.

Over 100 paramedics and also specialist paramedic from the hazardous area team were called to the scene. By the time the firefighters began extinguishing the kitchen fire, a column of flames was quickly making its way up the side of the building. At 01:15, a firefighter discovered smoke in Flat 26 (directly above Flat 16), another discovered a resident who had fled smoke on the fifth and sixth floors, and outside large quantities of debris began falling from the burning façade. The flames spread up the side at a “terrifying rate”.

By 01:18, 34 of 293 residents had escaped. Due to fire doors not closing and sealing properly, smoke began to spread from affected flats into the lobbies. At around 1:33, residents began calling 999 for assistance as they were trapped within their flats. At some point, the smoke began to enter the stairwell, although the stairs were passable this quickly became dangerous. The firefighters encountered thick smoke, zero visibility and extreme heat when they climbed above the fourth floor. Furthermore, some residents had moved location to escape the smoke. As the fire rapidly spread around the building, witnesses on the ground reported seeing trapped residents switching the lights in their flats on and off or waving from windows to attract help, some holding children.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing some people jumping to their deaths, and four victims were later found to have died from “injuries consistent with falling from a height”. These deaths were classed as ‘suicides’, despite being a direct consequence of the fire. At least one person used knotted blankets to make a rope and escape from the burning building. By sunrise, firefighters were still busy fighting the fire and attempting rescues on the inside. At 04:14, police addressed the large crowd of onlookers and urgently instructed them to contact anyone they knew who was trapped in the building.

Only two further rescues took place, with one resident being rescued at 06:05 and the last being rescued at 08:07. The fire continued to burn on the tower’s upper floors. It was not brought under control until 01:14 on 15th June and firefighters were still damping down pockets of fire when the Brigade issued an update on 16 June. The fire brigade also used a drone to inspect the building and search for casualties. The fire was declared extinguished on the evening of 16th June. A total of 151 homes were destroyed in the tower and surrounding area. People from surrounding buildings were evacuated due to concerns that the tower might collapse.

Source: Wikipedia.org

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