Towering Inferno
Have you seen the film The Towering Inferno, Dear Reader?
It's a bit old hat now, though the basic problem described in the film still haunts us. This being that skyscrapers are being built taller and taller and fire-fighters have equipment which can only squirt water so high - usually the first few floors. That and the fact that fire burns upwards. Heat rises.
Consequently people either working or living on the higher levels of high-rise buildings are at greater risk should a fire take hold in their building.
This is what happened in the wee small hours of Tuesday/Wednesday night at a tower block of flats (appartments) in Southwest London. As of now, seventeen people are known to have died. Many more are in hospital, some critically ill, mostly from the effects of smoke inhalation.
There is some thought that some victims of the fire may never be found/identified.
Apparently Grenfel Tower, built in 1974 (spookily enough the year the film The Towering Inferno was made,) underwent a programme of refurbishment fairly recently. This included cladding being fitted to the outside - a cosmetic 'improvement'. What was not fitted was a sprinkler system - a real improvement.
As Grenfel Tower was built before 2007 and is shorter than 30 metres it didn't have to have a sprinkler system, though one could have been retro-fitted - with a lot of work drilling holes and fitting pipes etc throughout the entire building. The kind of work that might well require families to move out and have to be housed elsewhere while it is being done. More expense! More expensive rents too, and rents in London are sky high already.
Of course, blocks of flats have long been known for problems - with the lifts (which may not work more often than they do work); with groups of people looking for somewhere to 'hang out' - either as a group of friends or somewhere they can drink and/or do drugs. And groups of idle people tend to incite one another to cause damage - setting off fire alarms 'for the fun of it' and the like.
It's like an HMO (House of Multiple Occupation), or maybe a Frat House, only worse. (Hmmm, are there worse things than Frat Houses?)
Whatever. Fire started some time Tuesday night (13th June) it gradually gained a hold, and was still burning in places on Thursday (yesterday) - despite the best efforts of London's Fire Brigades.
The death toll is currently (Thurs/Fri night) seventeen and is expected to rise. Families and friends of those who lived in Grenfel Tower are desperately seeking information. Many of those trapped phoned family and friends when they realised what was happening. Many of the lines then went dead. Nothing has been heard from them since.
There is a petition which has just been started to have it made law that sprinkler systems should be fitted to all high-rise buildings, not just the new ones. (Sorry, can't currently locate it.)
In fact there are several petitions doing the rounds, asking for eg: a Public Inquest into how the fire happened and how it got so bad; or demanding that Fire Fighters be paid wages commensurate with their jobs; or demanding changes in the law to ensure that all councils and landlords ensure that all high rises of any age have adequate Fire Alarm Systems, Fire Doors, Fire Escapes, Fire Sprinklers and Emergency Lighting fitted.
Of course all this would help, but there's one thing you can't legislate against, and that's the sheer bloody ingenuity of human stupidity. You know, the kind that not only props fire doors open but actually removes them 'because they were in the way'! !! !!!
We value the freedoms we have in this country. Perhaps we don't quite realise that with all the freedoms we have, including the freedom to be a sheer bloody idiot, comes the freedom to take the consequences of our, and other people's, freedoms of choice.
Meanwhile I'll be praying for the families of those missing, the injured, the fire services, the medical services, and that the government will want to know what to do for the Best of everyone.
Even the landlords who'd rather tart up the outside of a building than go to the trouble and expense of improving the safety systems.
Even the idle who are so bored they just go out and break things, including safety systems.
Even the stupid. Cos I'm stupid sometimes too.
Y'all have a good, careful, thoughtful and safe day now!
It's a bit old hat now, though the basic problem described in the film still haunts us. This being that skyscrapers are being built taller and taller and fire-fighters have equipment which can only squirt water so high - usually the first few floors. That and the fact that fire burns upwards. Heat rises.
Consequently people either working or living on the higher levels of high-rise buildings are at greater risk should a fire take hold in their building.
This is what happened in the wee small hours of Tuesday/Wednesday night at a tower block of flats (appartments) in Southwest London. As of now, seventeen people are known to have died. Many more are in hospital, some critically ill, mostly from the effects of smoke inhalation.
There is some thought that some victims of the fire may never be found/identified.
Apparently Grenfel Tower, built in 1974 (spookily enough the year the film The Towering Inferno was made,) underwent a programme of refurbishment fairly recently. This included cladding being fitted to the outside - a cosmetic 'improvement'. What was not fitted was a sprinkler system - a real improvement.
As Grenfel Tower was built before 2007 and is shorter than 30 metres it didn't have to have a sprinkler system, though one could have been retro-fitted - with a lot of work drilling holes and fitting pipes etc throughout the entire building. The kind of work that might well require families to move out and have to be housed elsewhere while it is being done. More expense! More expensive rents too, and rents in London are sky high already.
Of course, blocks of flats have long been known for problems - with the lifts (which may not work more often than they do work); with groups of people looking for somewhere to 'hang out' - either as a group of friends or somewhere they can drink and/or do drugs. And groups of idle people tend to incite one another to cause damage - setting off fire alarms 'for the fun of it' and the like.
It's like an HMO (House of Multiple Occupation), or maybe a Frat House, only worse. (Hmmm, are there worse things than Frat Houses?)
Whatever. Fire started some time Tuesday night (13th June) it gradually gained a hold, and was still burning in places on Thursday (yesterday) - despite the best efforts of London's Fire Brigades.
The death toll is currently (Thurs/Fri night) seventeen and is expected to rise. Families and friends of those who lived in Grenfel Tower are desperately seeking information. Many of those trapped phoned family and friends when they realised what was happening. Many of the lines then went dead. Nothing has been heard from them since.
There is a petition which has just been started to have it made law that sprinkler systems should be fitted to all high-rise buildings, not just the new ones. (Sorry, can't currently locate it.)
In fact there are several petitions doing the rounds, asking for eg: a Public Inquest into how the fire happened and how it got so bad; or demanding that Fire Fighters be paid wages commensurate with their jobs; or demanding changes in the law to ensure that all councils and landlords ensure that all high rises of any age have adequate Fire Alarm Systems, Fire Doors, Fire Escapes, Fire Sprinklers and Emergency Lighting fitted.
Of course all this would help, but there's one thing you can't legislate against, and that's the sheer bloody ingenuity of human stupidity. You know, the kind that not only props fire doors open but actually removes them 'because they were in the way'! !! !!!
We value the freedoms we have in this country. Perhaps we don't quite realise that with all the freedoms we have, including the freedom to be a sheer bloody idiot, comes the freedom to take the consequences of our, and other people's, freedoms of choice.
Meanwhile I'll be praying for the families of those missing, the injured, the fire services, the medical services, and that the government will want to know what to do for the Best of everyone.
Even the landlords who'd rather tart up the outside of a building than go to the trouble and expense of improving the safety systems.
Even the idle who are so bored they just go out and break things, including safety systems.
Even the stupid. Cos I'm stupid sometimes too.
Y'all have a good, careful, thoughtful and safe day now!