6 dead, at least 74 injured in massive blaze in London high-rise

Been watching it on the BBC news channel.

Fire fighter have only been able to get to the fourth floor of the 27 floor building.

I don't want to think of what happened to the ones who fail to get out.

My heart goes out to the familes and friends of the ones who live there as they wait to hear if they survived.

Isn't there a sprinkler system in the building. Here in Japan, buildings are required to have a sprinkler system above the 10th floor because water from firetruck hoses only reaches the 10th floor (there may be some really old buildings that don't have this, I'm not sure).

Apparently the building was completed in 1974 and a resident's group (the Grenfell Action Group) has been fighting with the local council to mitigate the danger for some time, including as recently as last November. https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/

This from the Guardian:

According to Get West London, the Grenfell Tower block had recently undergone a major £10 million refurbishment. Nick Paget-Brown, the leader of the Kensington and Chelsea Council, and Rock Feilding-Mellen, the deputy, visited the tower upon completion of the renovation in May last year.

The upgrade – which included the installation of insulated exterior cladding, new double-glazed windows, and a new communal heating system – was funded by the council as part of a multi-million-dollar regeneration of the area.

Very sad. London has been hit with multiple disasters. My prayers go to Londoners, hoping they gain and keep their strength.

Hearts out to the residents, their families, neighbors and friends. Kudos and thanks to all emergency responders, and also to anyone who's tried to help in any way.

I can't imagine what sort of nightmare it would have been inside that building, this is one of my all-time worst nightmares. Just hope that most residents were able to wake up in time to make it to safety, but looking at that gigantic fire the people on the top floors may have had significant difficulties..

Isn't there a sprinkler system in the building. Here in Japan, buildings are required to have a sprinkler system above the 10th floor because water from firetruck hoses only reaches the 10th floor

The regulations are similar. Sprinkler systems are required in residential buildings over 30 meters high. But that's for new builds since about 2000, I think. One reports suggests this building was retro-fitted with a sprinkler system, but it wasn't working for some reason. There is a lot of discussion in the media about the recent refurbishment of the building.

According to witnesses, the cladding went up like matchsticks. This is not good. Respect to the rescue services and to Suffa Global delivering supplies to those affected by the fire.

That's horrific.

There will surely be many deaths. Unthinkable that apparently the fire alarms didn't go off.

Brave people in the police and fire departments there, a bad day on the job.

Interesting and damning blog here:

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/grenfell-tower-fire/

Very catastrophic! The disastrous fire this time really reminds me of the film "The Towering Inferno." For some reason, I watched the movie a couple of times, first one, many years ago and second one, only fairly recently. And today, I ended up reading the sad news of real inferno in London. Hope it will all blow over ASAP. RIP to those who lost their lives by misfortune.

So sad... but no alarms and no sprinklers? How is that possible in 2017? Something needs to change there.

The local council of Kensington and Chelsea, which owns the block... said the causes of the fire would be fully investigated

"We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster."

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/

Fire safety experts say a sprinkler system would not have stopped that cladding on the outside of the building from burning the way it did

. What we do know is the fire alarms didn't work, fire safety doors, which should contain any fire for at least 30 minutes, were not for for purpose and the cladding burned too fast and too easily. Residents on both the BBC and CNN are complaining about the renovations and the many safety concerns they raised with the council were ignored, and a member of the residents association says he was threatend by a contractor after complaining.

I know where the LFB investigation unit and the Met Police should be looking.