This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/key-questions-about-the-grenfell-tower-fire
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Ten key questions about the Grenfell Tower fire | |
| (1 day later) | |
| What started the fire? | What started the fire? |
| Unconfirmed reports are circulating among local residents that a fridge may have exploded on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower. Residents of the block had previously voiced concerns about piles of rubbish in communal areas presenting a fire risk. Were either of these a contributing factor or was there another cause? | Unconfirmed reports are circulating among local residents that a fridge may have exploded on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower. Residents of the block had previously voiced concerns about piles of rubbish in communal areas presenting a fire risk. Were either of these a contributing factor or was there another cause? |
| Did the recently completed refurbishment contribute to the blaze? | Did the recently completed refurbishment contribute to the blaze? |
| As part of a refurbishment costing about £10m and carried out by the contractor Rydons, the building was covered in aluminium wall cladding, which appears to have burned strongly. Was this a factor or not? In July 2015, Kensington and Chelsea’s housing and property scrutiny committee reported that there had been “close liaison with London fire brigade with regard to works at Grenfell Tower – local operational crews regularly attend the block and liaise with the contractor, Rydons, on progress of works, impact on firefighting etc.” | |
| What about the external cladding? | |
| Firefighters, fire safety experts and architects voiced alarm about the speed with which the fire swept across the new polyester powder-coated aluminium facade, installed as part of the refurbishment to improve the building’s insulation and appearance. | |
| One architect responsible for several recladding projects said the tower’s cladding was designed to include fire breaks at every floor and around every window. He said that if the cladding was installed correctly, flames should not have been able to sweep through the cavities. | |
| This was confirmed by the Fire Protection Association, which carried out a laboratory study in 2015 after concerns were raised about such external thermal-insulated cladding systems. | |
| The FPA said on Wednesday that its study concluded that when the polystyrene insulation was properly enclosed, the extent of any fire could be limited to a “melt-out area”. However, it added that if the cladding was breached by bathroom vents or pipes it was possible for “ground to roof fire” to spread rapidly. | |
| Although architect’s drawings for Grenfell Tower seen by the Guardian show provisions for fire breaks in the cladding, it is not known whether it was installed that way. We know that a rainscreen system marketed under the Reynobond brand was used in cladding at Grenfell, but speculation is also focusing on the insulation material behind that. Many noticed chunks of blackened material that came off the building. | |
| The FPA said building regulations did not cover the fire resilience of external cladding. It added that the materials used in cladding systems varied from non-combustible to highly flammable: “It is a matter of choice, and clearly some choices are better than others.” | |
| The contractor, Rydon, said the works met building regulation standards. | |
| What about the new gas pipes in the central stairwell? Did they exacerbate the blaze? | |
| A local councillor, Judith Blakeman, who sits on the tenant management organisation, raised concerns in March about the National Grid installation of gas risers or pipes in the main stairwell as part of the refurbishment. She was reassured by the landlord that they would be boxed in with “fire-rated” protection, but this does not appear to have been done. The London fire brigade said on Thursday morning they had not been able to put out the flames until they had isolated a ruptured gas main in the block. | |
| How did the alarm system operate? | How did the alarm system operate? |
| Several residents said they did not hear a building-wide alarm. One man said the first thing he heard was the sirens of emergency vehicles. How was the building’s alarm system set up? | |
| More than one resident has claimed there was no central fire alarm system for the tower block – or that it had failed – and only smoke alarms in individual flats were working. Were they battery operated or hard-wired into the system? Board minutes suggest installing hard-wired fire alarms had been planned. | |
| What impact did the “stay put” fire advice have? | |
| According to the board minutes of the Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation, which runs the building, it has been engaged in “ongoing publicity to residents, particularly in relation to the ‘stay put’ fire strategy and procedures residents should follow in event of a fire in their flat or elsewhere in their block.” What impact did this advice have? | |
| The “stay put” advice stems from longstanding strategies for fighting fires in “compartmentalised” high-rise buildings. It assumes that most fires can be contained behind each flat’s fireproof front door. Firefighters then isolate the fire and rescue tenants floor by floor. But if the fire spreads, the brigade commander should order an evacuation. The fire was not contained in a single flat in Grenfell Tower but spread rapidly. | |
| So the outstanding questions are: why did the fire spread and why were so many people unable to get out? | |
| What about corporate manslaughter charges? | |
| The police, fire brigade and Health and Safety Executive have started investigations including a fingertip search and have said inquiries will be lengthy. Rachel Adamson, head of regulatory law at the law firm Stephensons, said corporate manslaughter charges were difficult to prove as they related to “the controlling mind of the business”. If an individual was considered to have been negligent, this may lead to a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence. A range of lesser potential charges include breach of fire regulations or health and safety regulations. Investigators will examine recent refurbishment work, whether building regulations have been complied with and what fire safety precautions were in place. | |
| What should the public inquiry cover? | |
| Theresa May has responded positively to Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a rapid public inquiry chaired by a cabinet minister over the summer. It will examine what happened but also needs to look at wider questions such as the record of implementation of new fire safety rules agreed after a tower block fire at Lakanal House in Southwark in 2009, in which six people died. | |
| In March the then housing minister, Gavin Barwell, now Theresa May’s chief of staff, delayed the completion of a recommended review of part B of the 2010 building regulations. Failings in the Southwark fire included inadequate fire-risk assessments and panels on the exterior walls not providing the required fire resistance. A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesperson said the work on the building regulations’ review was ongoing, and would not give a date for when updated regulations would be published. | |
| What about tenants living in similar blocks around the country? | |
| The policing and fire minister, Nick Hurd, has ordered checks to be carried out on tower blocks that have undergone similar refurbishments. Five London councils announced on Thursday that they would review the fire safety of their tower blocks. Local authorities around Britain took similar steps, with the Scottish government saying it was ready to take any actions necessary as lessons were learned from the Grenfell Tower fire. |