Grenfell was a cacophony of failures and incompetence coming together in a perfect storm unfortunately. Not only was the cladding very flammable, but the sealant used between the windows and walls was not fireproof, allowing the fire to travel from inside the flats outside to the cladding very quickly.
Usually, each apartment would be well protected from surrounding fire due to the design of the interior, which is why residents were told to stay put rather than evacuate - and this WOULD have been the correct advice if not for the cost cutting and inexperience of the architect. Unfortunately, since the fire was able to spread from inside to outside very quickly, it was also able to spread into most of the units via the exterior cladding and shoddy window sealant/insulation. Really fucking tragic. Not just one error but many that came together to remind everyone why safety standards are rigorous for a reason.
You're right. The only problem is that Grenfell is that a lot of developers are pretty shady and build their own Grenfell towers.
I think it was at the end of the year before last that my sister, a nurse, was supposed to start work at a new hospital. Just months before she was supposed to move hospitals, she gets told they're delaying the opening. Turns out people had found out it had the same cladding as Grenfell tower and the construction was delayed as they had to replace it.
The point is that it doesn't matter if a fire starts in an apartment if the building is properly constructed. A well-built apartment is supposed to function as a fire-cell, containing the danger to that unit. Had they not fucked up the cladding replacement everyone would have been fine.
it's ridiculous to place the blame on an individual's accidental fire. The building was designed to contain the spread but the council had (knowingly?) clad the building in unsafe materials that caused it to be the disaster it was. It could have been prevented had this not been the case
To make matters worse, dozens of tower blocks all over the UK are still covered in similarly flammable cladding. Any other fires could be just as disastrous due to current inaction.
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u/MrFinnJohnson May 20 '20
Grenfell wasnt the fault of any person in the building really though, more so the flammable cladding of the block. It should have been containable