Grenfell Towers

Against my better judgement, I would like to challenge that statement.

By pure coincidence, there was a fire in an apartment block in Stockholm one the same day that Grenfell Tower fire occurred. Of course, the national media here compared Stockholm to London in terms of regulations. Assuming that they told the truth here, then I would hazard a guess that very, very few houses, let alone apartment blocks in the UK could even come close to Swedish regulations.

As examples. In every house/tower block there are supposed to be: Gas/smoke alarms on every floor. A minimum of one 6kg fire extinguisher. A fire blanket, minimum size 120cm x 180cm in the kitchen. Tower blocks also have a requirement that it should take a minimum of 1 hour for a fire to spread from one flat to another. Added to that, in rented accommodation, landlords are also responsible to supply the cooker (always electric) as well as fridge freezers and commercial grade washing machines.

There is also "quality control" and "quality assurance" on two separate levels to ensure the regulations are adhered to.

My guess is that if these regulations had been in force in England, this tragedy would not have occurred, or would at least have been less severe.

 

According to the Daily Mail at this present moment 50 firefighters are tackling another fire in a block of flats in Bethnal Green in London.By the look of it the roof is on fire and the fire has spread in part down to the next floor of the flats.Eight fire engines are at the scene and dozens of fire fighters are tackling the blaze.I just hope that there are no casualties in this fire

 

There was a bloke on the news today who was refusing to leave his home.

Good for him, there is this stupid knee jerk reaction going on in all tower blocks, I mean how long have these people been living with this cladding?

As usual, a combination of media hype and health and safety, along with a big dollop of hysteria which seems to be the norm these days, and the fact that authorities might get legal action ,( compensation culture), is turning the whole thing into some kind of a farce.

 

I'm pretty sure you could find a few problems with my house if you wanted to be super critical, the difference is that I cant sue anyone should my place burn down.

Pity the fire brigade didn't point this out before this happened?
Or maybe they did, but it didn't matter then?

Whatever, it's all getting pretty silly now, and god knows what happens next.

 

Well! I'm ruddy cross & it's not good when I'm ruddy cross ! Why on gods earth are there ruddy tenants in those flats who are refusing to ruddy leave? Can they not see it's for their safety? I couldn't care a monkeys elbow if they've lived there for twelve years or twelve hours the fact is it's not safe & they can't stay, they are being given alternative housing until they can go back but oh no they are refusing to leave, so how much is a court order going to cost the tax payer to get them out? Do we really need to waste money on that? Honestly some times I blinking dispair I really do . Rant over....still ruddy cross

 

Sorry folks, I'd not read everyone's posts before I had my rant....you've already covered this

 

I'm sorry Beckie but I would be one of those tenants.

Let's get a few things straight shall we ..... In my opinion only as a high rise flat dweller......

The fire in Grenfell was started by a faulty piece of kitchen equipment, at the time the tenant and his neighbour said they extinguished it, CODSWALLOP, if they had it wouldn't have gone so far, and if the equipment was faulty why wasn't it disconnected.

They are moving these tenants out, well in my opinion if someone is careless enough to create ( I won't say start as that makes it sound like arson which it isn't ) a fire in a block of flats they are as capable of doing so in a hotel room or wherever they are moved to ( discarded cigarettes etc ).

I have lived in a high rise block for 18 years now, would I move out if they told me to NO , flats are safe, it's the people who should be more careful.

By this reckoning, should everyone who lives in a thatched cottage be moved out also, I'm sure those are a fire risk also ( probably more so than a flat ).

As for people ( there is someone on here who holds this view but I can't remember their name ) who say that all blocks over four Storeys high should be demolished , well I'm sorry but you shouldn't knock it till you've tried it.

One of the problems at the moment is that every tower block in the country is being compared with what is basically a London Skyscraper.

I've heard in the news tonight that the government is paying all the hotel bills etc, WHY .... If the council is moving people out then it is down to the council to foot the bill.

I also heard someone on the TV saying that the samples they are now receiving don't meet " current regulations " and he kept emphasising the word " current ", this makes me wonder if they met the regulations of the time when the work was done, if they did then who is to blame.

I think that this has all been blown way out if proportion by the media.

I don't mean to upset anyone so I'm sorry if I do.

 

I think there is some confusion? High rise homes and market value rental units as opposed to old subsidized housing?

I also think that until you have hosted an electrical fire, you have no idea how frightening it might be to people with little education. I don't think they had time to google or youtube for answers on safely and completely extinguishing one of those. Been there (New Years day 2017)and know the initial heart palpitations that can cause!

That said, I agree with the objection to mass evacuation. Clear one building, fix it, then on to the next. Disrupt one tower at a time. That's what we should have done with our social housing. The only thing working properly in ours IS the smoke detectors and sprinkler systems. From what I hear they are roach infested and mildew rules. Sad.