Fire engulfs tower block in west London

A huge fire has engulfed a tower block in Latimer Road, west London, with firefighters tackling flames from the second floor to the top.

The fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate was reported at 01:16 BST and about 200 firefighters are tackling the blaze.

The Metropolitan Police said "an evacuation process is under way".

The BBC's Andy Moore said the whole tower block was alight and there are fears the building might collapse.

The London Fire Brigade say 40 fire engines have been sent to the tower.

Eyewitnesses say they could see lights - thought to be torches - flashing at the top of the block of flats, which people say is "close to burning through".


Image captionForty fire engines and 200 firefighters are tackling the blaze
George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV programme Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live: "I'm getting covered in ash, that's how bad it is.

"I'm 100 metres away and I'm absolutely covered in ash.

"It's so heartbreaking, I've seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can't get out."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40269625

This is frustrating. Hope everyone in the forum (London based) is safe!

A few that got out because they were still awake at that hour said the warning was a burning plastic smell.. No alarms heard and no sprinkler system..Just black smoke.

I have a nasty feeling that the death toll will be huge.
Terrible tragedy that should have been avoided IMO given the so called strict UK fire regs..

Very sad day.

Some one(s) will be in Jail for a long time never seen a tower block go up like that truely horrible

Hopefully a lot more heads than one to roll..
Council members,Contractors and one or two in fireman Sam`s office.

A fridge explodes and the building's expensive new thermal cladding is rapidly engulfed in flames? And why was there only one fire escape available? And why did the fire alarms not work - or the building's sprinkler system - or, indeed, why was the rising main faulty? Who allowed the access roads to be narrowed thus making it very difficult for emergency vehicles to attend? Why did the fire brigade not act on numerous safety warnings reported by residents?

Heads should roll. But won't. In fact this is almost identical to another tower block fire owned by the same council a few years ago.

The landlords can't say they weren't warned. This is a blog from November last year warning that loss of life in a fire at the block of flats was a real risk.

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

Truly awful - but I hope that politicians (with no technical experience whatsoever) try to refrain from commenting on issues they haven't a clue about.

For example Ken Livingstone (well past his sell-by date) was talking about shoddy imported electrical goods as possibly being the cause - with no evidence whatsoever.

The issue of resources and the Government's attitude to regulation (in terms of mandating retro-fit sprinkler systems) will feature large in the investigation.

Like others I watched aghast as the building blazed...I am aware that focus has been on the recently applied cosmetic cladding. Again, without any knowledge, surely building regs would prohibit the use of flammable materials?

More generally hugely positive to see the local community coming together - with all backgrounds / races / religions helping one another is time of extreme adversity & trauma.

#onerace_human race

Lets keep things simple.
Concrete doesn't burn and that`s why its an ideal external finish for exterior high rises.. Problem is,to make it look pretty it needs to be painted at least every 5 years with fire retardant paint.
Expensive,So they clad it to save the huge reoccurring maintenance costs.
Whatever material they decided to clad that structure with to make it look pretty and semi self cleaning was obviously flammable and allowed that fire to move to upper floors at blistering speed..That`s obvious as we watched it burn and fall off in cinders all the way up to the top.
Building fire regs, like many other well intentioned laws are worthless when they are not enforced.
The links provided above illustrate very clearly that a large variety of warnings were given prior..All,shunned and ignored.
Its not hard to find excellent fire proof products like glass based rockwool for cladding insulation..The problem is the external skin.
I wonder what is was?? Rain proof non fire retardant plastic?
HEADS MUST ROLL.

Cladding apparently added to add insulation as well as improve aesthetic. Sandwich of aluminium plates with insulation material inside - the inner core does not have to be non flammable (Structural engineer on Good Morning Britain.)

"Does not have to be non flammable"???
How STUPID is that?
The Aluminium skin on the fire side of an insulated panel is supposed to be sacrificial according to this comprehensive report which also talks about insulation aluminium siding products and fire..
The aluminium melts exposing what? A flammable insulation product?
These "engineers" are so incredibly clever and talented at times!

http://www.alfed.org.uk/files/Fact sheets/11-aluminium-and-fire.pdf

Also...One single cheap minimum interior requirement...HARD WIRED fire alarms in EVERY unit for starters..The detectors for these alarms should be at a high level in all communal areas.

Don`t leave it to tenants to buy those plastic things to stick on their ceilings!!
Why?
Because they remove the batteries the first time they burn a slice of toast..
HARD wired smoke detector for EVERY internal unit/flat.
That means TWO alarms for each unit...Make them deafeningly loud.

You talk common sense but in the absence of a full investigation of the causes we can only speculate.

Interesting to note that former Conservative Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis, refused to mandate landlords to retro-fit sprinkler systems to tower blocks. Speaking in 2014 he said:

'We believe that it is the responsibility of the fire industry, rather than the Government, to market fire sprinkler systems effectively and to encourage their wider installation.'

On the surface quite staggeringly complacent and an example of a culture of deregulation.

Very similar to the situation in Dubai, where several high rise towers have gone up in flames in the past few years. The aluminum cladding is instrumental in letting the flames spread to higher floors at an alarming speed.

I`d never live in one,I dont care what the big cheese engineer says....Unless they fit these things as part of the new fire regs..

Haven't a clue what you're talking about. The "big cheese" was an structural engineer who - in answer to a question - merely stated the factual position regarding whether such cladding had to be made of non flammable materials.

Thanks..
Just a very quick look at the products European so called fire cert classification for this Reynobond product...
Seems it is certified as A1 which is described as Non combustible.
French so called classification is M1 which is also Non combustible.
Non combustible should mean that it will not burn at ANY temperature.
Rock wool for example,I KNOW for a fact is non combustible as it is used as an insulation core for ovens.. It passed all my tests as I threw a piece in my Pizza oven at 850 F for 20 minutes and no flame.
Anyway..Looks like the company that produced the panels are off the hook, IF they can produce legitimate certs which are based IMO on very dodgy and questionable fire tests in Europe.
What should happen is that this useless and dangerous product should be tested again (properly this time) and then banned in the UK .
I noticed that there are 3 other almost identical tower blocks near by and a section of the lower building in question was untouched so the panel installation quality and between floor cavity fire barriers are easily inspected.
My residential buildings will forever remain old school.. Concrete.

Could this be true? It`s almost unbelievable.

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.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/key-questions-about-the-grenfell-tower-fire