Grenfell Towers

It would almost certainly be a seized compressor or a leak of refrigerant gas which has then been ignited either by something external (lights being switched on for example), or possibly even by the compressor relay on the fridge itself. The refrigerant gas itself has changed dramatically over the years, and since the rules came in to ban CFC's, Pentane is one of the refrigerant gases used. Pentane is a hydrocarbon (made up of hydrogen and carbon), and is not all that distantly related to the likes of butane and propane - and like those, it is flammable.

Obviously, this is a very rare scenario, however there was one particular brand (one of those I referred to on my "don't buy" list, that had quite a few fires related to them. Given the demographic of residents in this tower, I would not be surprised if it was one of these that was the root cause.

There needs to be dramatic changes following this, and if I were campaigning for the change, I would be suggesting:

• A ban on any new residential building over 4 four stories

• A timed action plan to build high quality replacement housing (and not the modern shoe-boxes that we have seen being thrown up in recent years), and demolish all high rise residential blocks

• Social housing to be brought back into local authority control, and a return to proper council housing that is affordable and available to all

• Mandatory registration of electrical appliances (white goods) at the time of sale

• A minimum build quality standard to be established and enforced for all domestic appliances

• Mandatory research into internal fire-thwarting materials for all appliances and electronics, with further steps to make those materials mandatory once developed.

• A government backed scheme to allow the poorer people in our society to purchase essential appliances and pay weekly, without being ripped off by interest rates that are 100% plus. I am not saying that this should be something that costs the taxpayer, and certainly not a free supply of appliances - but, perhaps have a range of 'approved' white goods from various manufacturers that can be purchased and paid for weekly or monthly with the option to have the payment deducted 'at source' for those on benefits?

• An IMMEDIATE and full review into NHS, Police and Fire & Rescue service resourcing, with steps taken to put in place the required levels urgently.

This country needs to stop cutting, and start building - - that alone will make things partly self-funding through the jobs created.

 

There is TONS of unbuilt land in this country - the majority of Wales and Scotland is empty for a start, so yeah maybe we should be building on some of this green belt land. Sure, it wouldn't be in London, but it doesn't have to be all that far away, and with the correct infrastructure it could work. Also, don't forget that there are some plots where there used to be one house, which are quite capable of taking a block of six or eight flats.

Another factor that has to be considered is the pressure that high rise buildings put on utilities such as water, drains and electric, as well as public transport (one high rise block potentially has enough people to fill 6 double deck buses, and if they all want to get to work at the same time.....)

At the very least, if high rise accommodation is to continue to be built then the regulations MUST now be changed to stipulate sprinklers, fire alarms, multiple escape routes and fireproof or fire suppressant materials used throughout - AND all existing blocks should be systematically retro-fitted, or pulled down where they cannot be retro-fitted.

We need a NATIONAL home building scheme, of all types, with strictly enforced standards - for too long successive governments have buried their heads in the sand about the housing crisis in this country, whilst farming out social housing (for the most part) to profit making enterprises. It is utterly mad that taxpayers are funding fat profits for private landlords and property management companies; if all that profit was turned back into the system instead, how many extra homes would it build, and how much better could the standards be?