American Reacts to The Grenfell Tower Fire Disaster in West London 

Yes, blaming the firefighters who were there and shutting down firestations dreadful :((

Some of the firefighters were poisoned with the toxic fumes and they were blamed it’s ridiculous @@jopickett9679

Kensington were repeatedly told by residents the tower was a deathtrap; all documented by a resident and in the papers just after the fire. KC to residents warnings: _Go away you socialist bottom-feeders, who cares anyhow?_ (paraphrased). There was a lot of political friction (Tory attitudes vs lower-classes) in the dynamic.

It's just all-around awful!

They knew it was a death trap. The tenants had told them several times..

Exactly . Very wealthy Burrough . Grenfell fire was due to greed and a total lack of care . I remain truamatised by this . UK here.

I remember that day clearly too. I live in Dublin, Ireland. My partner, Lord Rest His Soul, was born & bred in London, so knew the area extremely well. He said the same thing!

Whats even more shameful is they gave tax rebates to the rich as money hadnt been spent. It was unbelievably sad

Wow, I can't even imagine! It's just awful. I love how you all come together to provide relief to your community. ❤️

Yeah literally we're talking multi-millionaires, the money flowing through this council must be absurd and yet they still let this happen. Despicable greed.

The worst part was that they had the money for the correct cladding and still went for the cheaper option

You both said the same thing ?

@@BumboyWillynut nope he said “they had to use the correct cladding” I said “the had the money for the correct cladding” meaning they had no excuses for not using the correct cladding

Man, that's just disgusting! Such a needless thing to happen, all because somebody wanted to save some money and cut corners.

I believe the fire doors were faulty as well.

The components all passed building regs when tested individually- but not wheb used together?!

Strange you mention the front doors, the fire came in through the windows via the cladding, not in through the front door. Everything was brick and concrete in the halls, what was there to catch fire.

Plus plastic frame windows when originally they were metal.

When that tower was built it was fire resistant. Because of short cuts,combined with government cuts in building regulations, which allowed to cut costs in renovating the building.

I know in 2015 I wasn't allowed to apply to live in a tower because I had a child.. that's in Scotland. Idk if it's the same in England.

When this happened, my local council acted very quickly to make sure all the high-rise buildings were safe and updated their safety and procedures in case of fire. It is very unfortunate (it was avoidable), that people had to lose their lives in such a devastating disaster. All because a group of people wanted to save a bit of cash and opted for lesser quality. As far as I was aware, the council had been told to choose a different type of cladding (not the one they went with), although I can't say how true this was... Honestly it wouldn't have surprised me at this point if it were true.

Those in similar cladded buildings were in a dilemma, as they couldn't sell their properties if they wanted to, no-one wanted to buy until old cladding was removed etc., Some of the cost of replacing cladding became a burden to those who had bought their property...catch 22...

It's the government who create the building standards, councils are supposed to maintain them. It's incredible to have flammable cladding.

These days most social housing is built by housing associations. Cost-cutting is nothing new; take a look at Hulme in Manchester which was a very expensive failure.

It was up to building regulations. Regulations that the government set.

Many did as the council had no idea who was living there. Sub let after sub let.

Same thing happened with the twin towers collapse in New York, people claimed they were in the buildings to claim money and fame.

That is your takeaway from this horrendous tragedy. Not a Tory council covering a tower of flats in highly flammable but cheap cladding because rich neighbours complained it was an eyesore. That the residents were considered were so unimportant that normal safety precautions were overlooked again to save money. That people and children suffered an agonising death because of the entitlement, selfishness and callousness of a Tory council and wealthy residents. And you chose to concentrate on a tiny number of people who tried to benefit from this tragedy. My god! .

Some conscience-less losers did the same with the World Trade Centre attack. People suck. 😡🤦🏽‍♀️

@@catherinehanner284 I think he was just trying to portray how Mercenary people can be, even in the face of the most horrific tragedy, Money becomes the driving force, just like you have quite rightly stated in your post. Whoever first stated that Money is the route of all evil, was absolutely 💯% correct. I have seen family's fall out with each other because there has been a legacy, left by a loved one. The lust for Money and greed is like an illness.

and which way was that ?

WHAT ABOUT THE KINGS CROSS FIRE THE BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM FIRE THE GRENFELL FIRE WAS STARTED BY A MIGRANT

​@@user-ey2gp4rc3zThe Grenfell fire was not "started by a migrant". This was not arson. The cause was a faulty wire in a fridge. So you can take your unfounded racist accusation and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Idiotic comment. PEOPLE died in this disaster - real human beings. Take your racist opinions some place else@@user-ey2gp4rc3z

@@user-ey2gp4rc3z that was an abhorrent remark to make. You should be ashamed of yourself and also if I remember rightly it was an elderly, single gentleman not a migrant. Save your anger for those who deserve it like penny pinching council officials.

​@@alicemilne1444 don't worry, I reported the comment

This is Green fell fire and it was still standing in 2020 when I went past with the covers on

​@@lisasmith2660 Edit: 'Grenfell Tower'

@lisasmith2660 Yes, I know. But the video also had a clip of the partial collapse of Ronan Point, which Steve was asking about.

@@andybaker2456 Crazy thing about that is the woman whose gas stove had caused the explosion survived and she took the stove with her to her next home.

It is human nature to only learn from errors that become tragedies. The Kings Cross underground station fire. There was nothing at fault with wooden escalators intrinsically but the fire was caused by a cigarette butt that fell between the tread and the side into the equipment space beneath. Lack of maintenance and cleaning was the cause, the glowing butt falling onto a pile of greasy waste rag. All remaining wooden escalators were then replaced across London, at a cost of many millions to the then London Transport, far less was done and spent on keeping equipment spaces clean and tidy, which should have been the priority.

The fire engines were also unable to access the ground outside of the flats because of barriers which were locked and pedestrianisation.

I'm not understanding. The present government and local councils are still brushing Grenfell under the carpet?

​@@2eleven48lets just say theyre dragging their feet on writing the final report.

​@@2eleven48 As a West Londoner myself, I can confirm that the underlying causes behind Grenfell have still not been properly addressed. In the aftermath of the fire it was discovered that many other tower blocks in the UK had been 'upgraded' using the same kind of cladding. While some have since been renovated, many haven't, and there is potentially a huge bill for taxpayers to try and undo that mess and make these blocks safer, yet there has been no real urgency from the government or local authorities to deal with it (probably because no one wants to admit the huge cost and disruption fixing it all would bring). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_cladding_crisis On top of that, we've since had a separate scandal about poor building materials in many schools (not related to fire, but the risk of concrete panels crumbling) which would also cost millions and much disruption to put right. So you can be sure that will also take attention off the post-Grenfell cladding scandal too. Regarding the cuts in fire stations in London, those have not been restored, and they were based on outdated data about traffic congestion and the time it takes fire engines to get to incidents. The roads are much more congested in London than they were 10, 20, or more years ago, but some of the data officials use to determine response times was out of date. The biggest cuts in recent years were in 2016, less than a year before the Grenfell fire: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37844566 We have the same problem in the UK with ambulance response times too, and with A&E departments (what the US would call "ER") being closed at many hospitals and patients expected to travel further, even though traffic is heavier. So again, governments are not learning the lessons from tragedies like the Grenfell fire.

So Boris was indirectly responsible for these deaths as well as all the Covid ones (my Grandad's included). If there is a Hell he will be roasting in it. 😠 This fire was such a tragedy, I felt for all those families affected. Thank goodness that so many ignored the stay put. RIP to those who didn't make it.

some firefighters have even got cancer from the fire 💔

@@hyedore Yeah it was truly heartbreaking! And the fact some people tried to blame the firefighters for not saving more live was disgusting and devastating.

Just a sad situation all around!

70 something people died the cladding was the same as putting match to gas

Glad to hear the company you work for takes the matter seriously!

Anthony Joshua lives in his mums council flat. Used to anyway, not sure if he still does.

Your personal circumstances are assessed when making an application for council housing. If you have a million in the bank at the time of your application it’s very unlikely that you would be able to register let alone awarded a council property. There’s usually an income/asset threshold.

There’s a points system for assigning council housing - it’s very unlikely that someone with £1mil is going to get a place due to there being many more vulnerable people for whom there isn’t enough housing already.

@@Youssii round here, you don't have to declare your earnings or savings. But that wasn't my point. You could live in a council house and earn or win £1million. You then wouldn't be made to leave your council house. Therefore it is not low income housing.

@@CW1971 sure, it’s more at the allocation stage - to be in a significant enough crisis to be given a home, you’d need to have that million and not be using it to make things easier which would be unusual. But yes, council homes are not retracted from people just because they’re no longer in severe poverty, which helps a little to stop entirely neighbourhoods being destitute

WHAT ABOUT THE KINGS CROSS FIRE THE BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM FIRE THE GRENFELL FIRE WAS STARTED BY A MIGRANT

@@user-ey2gp4rc3z The Kings Cross fire and the Bradford Stadium fire were different kettles of fish. What is so important that you label a migrant as starting the fire? I guess it must be your racist tendencies. How did you work out that the refrigerator was a 'migrant'?

​Disgusting shameful comment .it was a faulty fridge and the tenant raised the alarm and called emergency services straight away . ​@@user-ey2gp4rc3z

Council housing was supposed to be for those people who did not have the means to either afford to rent privately or to raise a mortgage

It was the cladding that burned incredibly quickly

We had those tiles. I’m still terrified of a chip pan😂

I’d never have a chip pan

I've seen the public information film about 'polystyrene tiles' - scary stuff!

Not all lives are equal. There's an extra 50% on sentencing if you kill a police officer. Still, I always wanted to live in a 2-tier society.

​​@@wulfgoldThat's not because their 'lives' mean more 😂🙄 It's because their job is on behalf of the Crown! Same as if you murder a post master or a Judge. ALL lives are equal.

I wonder if people forget to empty the filter tray at the bottom of washing machines, where pieces of material and fluff can build up and overheat. Our electric heater did the same because it needed cleaning.

@@TheStar798 unless they're on behalf of "the crown".

@@wulfgold yeah but it doesn’t matter who killed them, it will always be a +50% chance no matter the convict. Therefore all lives are still equal

The same with me - just terrible.

I can only imagine. Very sad!

I witnessed 9/11 as it happened live on TV, and the Grenfell fire is the only time since I felt the same way watching _that_ unfold. I don't know if the tower still stands, but they really should pull it down and turn the spot into a memorial garden - not just for those that died that day but those that lost everything they owned and their homes too. That's definitely another even that should never be forgotten lest it be repeated.

@@DavidStruveDesignsI think the gov is consulting with families on what they want to do, either leave it standing as a monument to the mistakes made and crimes committed, or knock it down and replace with a memorial. I think the families are pretty split.

@@HomemadeBrownies1 Yeah I can't imagine it's an easy thing, to decide what to do with the site. I know there was a LOT of discussions and contradicting ideas for the Twin Towers sites. I'm glad they are involving the families and victims though, that's vitally important - just hope they actually listen and go with what they decide ultimately.

Yes, much respect to the first responders who risk their lives in these situations and get virtually no thanks!

A former LFB safety officer said the same. He blamed the EU regulations but was quickly silenced.

@@101steel4exactly 😊

❤️

They aren't 😢 - still in awful temporary housing conditions, with children and the elderly suffering - with no one from the Council staying in touch.... But we managed to find or buy housing for Ukrainians 🙄

Many are still in hotels. Some have refused multiple offers of housing.

@@101steel4if they’ve turned down housing it’s probably because it’s not in London. Immigrants inly want to live in London.

Levelling up...

this had nothing to do with the government.

@@davidlancaster4476 why are they getting involved then?

because they are the party in office, not everybody wrings theirs hands just because,

@@davidlancaster4476 there is a difference between "Government" and "THE Government". Read my comment again. I clearly say "Government". If you want to talk about THE government, there's partygate, the PPE scandal, Capita ar un trouble.... Twice (army recruitment and TV license)...... Going back a couple of years there was G4S getting contracts while May was home secretary. I'm sure her husbands involvement was purely coincudental. The contaminated blood victims are still waiting for justice (Thatcher's government) who also brought is the Westland helicopter scandal, cash for questions... Meanwhile, Scargull ran off with a load of money that was supposed to go to the striking miners. And how about Blair's government? Dodgy loans, cash for peerages, the Bernie Ecclestone... So as you can see. There is a big difference between "Government" and "The Government"

💚

Get a grip

Just spending the least money. I wonder how much its cost in compensation and rehousing? Probably a lot more.

They put that cladding on to make the flats look more attractive for their more "upmarket " neighbours. Ordinary people have been outpriced in London and surrounding counties. People's lives were lost because not upsetting the wealthy was put above the safety of the less well off. I think some of the residents who survived this still are having trouble getting rehoused. A f*****g scandal, they were warned about this and ignored it.

Luckily the majority of these high rise buildings have been demolished in my city. The tallest we have now is 23 floors.

Barton House: Evacuated residents face fear and uncertainty over safety-hit Bristol tower block. Around 400 people were given just hours to leave their homes on 14 November and are yet to return, amid concerns about the structure of the 15-storey building and the latest construction scandal to strike the UK (sky news)

They still do have the same cladding, it was reported a year or two ago that around 40% of those that had the cladding, still had the cladding in place.

There was a air gap between the cladding and the building structure. It formed a forced draft that spread the blaze like wildfire.

⁠@@harbl99You do need an air gap between the exterior wall insulation and the outermost cladding though. It’s to allow the back of the cladding / front of the insulation to dry when water vapour condenses on those surfaces. There are two possible solutions: 1) use only non-flammable cladding and insulation materials. The advantage of this is that it is consistent with the traditional British approach to designing fire resistance into structures - the preference for brick walls (in low rise structures), reinforced concrete walls/floors/columns (in mid to high rise). The disadvantage is the extra cost of those materials. 2) design fire mitigation strategies into the structure. The obvious one is putting fire breaks in between every story and at the edge of party walls. How you do this depends on the materials your using, but to keep as close to the Grenfell Tower design as possible, you’d be looking at using uninsulated (likely MgO board backed) aluminium cladding, slightly thicker poly-iso insulation, a narrower air gap, and regular fire breaks (where the poly-iso is replaced with non-flammable rigid insulation and an intumescent seal is present to close the air gap in event of fire). Basically you have to design how the building will burn. This is more like the US approach to building design.

I think something was mentioned about there also being a gap between the outer wall and the cladding, so it was impossible to hose it, it needed tackling from above as well.

The thing is, the instruction to not leave would have been really good advice had it not been for that cladding. The fire wouldn't have spread, and everybody would have been safe.

And then that b*****d Jacob Rees Mogg said the victims should have use their common sense.

Yeah, that would definitely be concerning to me!

It goes against logic.

Buildings are designed to move slightly with gaps installed intentionally between building elements. However they should be filled with a suitable joint seal product which I'm guessing your building didn't have. Good job moving my friend.

glad I never saw this while living there we were on the 7th floor.@@addym45

That is quite a silly take. There are so many events deadlier than this one that happen around the world every day that we have no idea about because the news didn’t show it to us. US news simply didn’t show a building fire to their nation

There it is in a nutshell. The US media chose not to show it. Compare. The Twin Towers,the endless school shootings,the absurd politics,the floods,hurricanes,the race mess,the sheer dumb utterences of your leaders (although you are NOT alone there)....... all of this is shown on our media networks.Why ? Because there are many other places with serious things happening other than your own.

A lot of Tory Donors had shares in Arconic (people who made the cladding), just saying.

In the eighties, they used to turn up at football stadiums in their thousands without a ticket and the staff and police would end up letting them in for nothing, just to relieve the pressure on the people at the gate/walls... (Liverpool were not alone in this, it was a common tactic with many club supporters) At Hillsborough, there were so many that when the gates where opened, there was such a press and crush of people trying to get in...FOR FREE... they killed 96 of their fellow supporters, then blamed everyone but themselves! One newspaper had the guts to report the facts and has been bad mouthed ever since... I wonder was this the start of Wokeness!

@@Mark_Bickerton LIAR! They all had tickets, the police were at fault by not diverting into the side pens and opening the floodgates so they all rushed into the central pens. There was a court case ffs, you still believe the lies written in the scum.

Nothing to do with Grenfell and you are completely wrong about Hillsborough. It has been proved over and over again that police mismanagement was the cause of the crush that killed 96 people.

​@@Mark_Bickerton That's not exactly true

@@Mark_Bickerton You’re completely wrong about Hillsborough. Fans have been 100% shown not to have caused the disaster. The inexperienced police captain involved forced fans to go into one tunnel instead of three and it forced everyone into one section. People died standing up, asphyxiation. Imagine that. Children died. Please don’t spread lies about this.

In London there isn't a county council, there's the borough council (Kensington & Chelsea here) with responsibility for housing, and then the Greater London Authority, which mostly deals with London-wide issues, e.g. public transport and major roads etc.

It's not just low income people who rent council/housing association houses. I rented a council property in the 90s and I was a nurse on £40k a year which was a fairly good salary back then, i wasnt ready to buy, id been raised in a council house (by parents with good income) and why pay double for a private rental property?

@@CW1971 that's true

@@CW1971 Very true. My daughter and her husband earn a lot of money and she lives in a 3 bed beautiful Victorian council house in a beautiful village and pays under £500 per month in rent.

All hospitals have stay out policies, because it is the correct policy for high rise fires.

Not always true I know someone who’s not on benefits and earns over 40k a year. Who has a council flat. That being said they have lived there over 20 years now

I think the Sands also had some of the below code concrete. That discovery led to parts of the Sands being closed and concerts cancelled.

@@mewsli do you live in Carlisle Cumbria , I do , it's awful that they never learnt from the fire

I do indeed live in Carlisle. 😀

I live in Denton Holme Carlisle Cumbria England, a small world. I am at the sands centre tomorrow 3rd January to see the physio which used to be based at the Cumberland infirmary hospital

@heathermurray9939 I'm in a new build in Botch right on the edge of Durranhill. It's a small, small world indeed. Good luck with the physio!

The same cladding was used all over the country by labour councils aswell, infact more labour than tories 😂

It was some dodgy Tennant and his dodgy fridge that was too blame not the cladding

@@makeasylumsgreatagain864 What's that got to do with it?

@@chucky2316 Give your head a wobble Man.

@@geoffmelvin6012 because you specifically mentioned the TORY councillors.