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September 6, 2024 - 6:00pm
Published this week, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report cites a number of targets for condemnation following the 2017 fire which killed 72 residents. One of the most crucial is the state’s willingness to conceal information and protect its own reputation in the immediate aftermath of a major incident.
The report traces a long and unpleasant history of this with regard to cladding fires, and it is clear reading it that the lack of honesty came at a fatal cost to those who lived in Grenfell Tower. What is worse is that it continued even after the fire destroyed much of the building.
It is worth looking back to 1991, when a tower block in Knowsley, Merseyside went up in flames, but the official investigation said nothing about the fact that its cladding was made of highly combustible plastic. The building was clad as part of a Government pilot scheme, and a handwritten note from the time — which I first unearthed back in 2021 — reveals that the relevant department’s press office had made “a request […] to play down the issue of the fire” so that the briefing was “purely factual”.
The Inquiry report found it “difficult to understand” why this fire was played down, but it does not take much imagination to offer a suggestion: the authorities were aware it would be extremely embarrassing. This response set the tone for what would follow with every major cladding fire to come — including Grenfell.
Eight years before Grenfell, a fire at Lakanal House in South London killed six people, including three children. But Government officials shut down the official investigation in less than a month — before key questions had been answered. Lawyers for the bereaved and survivors were scathing about this in their submissions, calling it a “grotesque abdication of responsibility” which “raises the spectre of a deliberate cover-up”.
When it became clear thanks to the police that the panels on the wall of the building were violently combustible, this information was not made public, despite the fire brigade recommending a warning be given to other housing providers. Officials wrote internally that they needed to be “very careful” to avoid “setting the hares running”.
Wednesday’s report was scathing of these failures, saying they showed “a complacent and short-sighted attitude towards learning wider lessons from the fire”, but once more said the failure to investigate further was “difficult to understand”. These fires — as well as one in Irvine, Scotland in 1999 — before Grenfell all spread over combustible plastic and were to some extent “played down” by Government officials.
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SubscribeAnyone out there shouting for deregulation in this area? Begs some questions doesn’t it for that sort of mantra.
And whilst the Public Inquiry has taken too long, partly due to the pandemic, without it much of this would have remained hidden. Justice has still to follow.
I can’t find anyone discussing the combustibility of the panels. Surely we ought to be able to produce inert cladding materials for not much more than the cheap materials used nowadays?
If I recall, articles written about Grenfell fire quoted email chains between K&C Council and various companies involved in cladding work.
Panels chosen had to meet cost requirements.
Therefore better but more expensive options were rejected.
The report ignored the chimney effect where temperatures rise from 600C to 1200 C in 5 seconds.
There was no one in the chain of events who were Chartered Engineers who understood the nature of combustion.
Most of the problems in Britain over the last 60 years are because people in positions of authority lack the academic knowledge, technical skills and leadership. The investigation are often undertaken by people without the experience and are very long winded.
Regulation will not prevent inadequate people making the wrong decision. Look at the inquiry after the Titanic disaster
BritishWreck Commissioner’s inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic – Wikipedia
Inquiry started on 3rd July and report issued 30th July.
The five assessors consisted of Rear Admiral the Honourable Somerset Gough-Calthorpe; Captain A. W. Clarke of Trinity House; Commander Fitzroy Lyon of the Royal Naval Reserve; Professor John Harvard Biles, an expert on naval architecture at the University of Glasgow; and Edward Chaston, an Admiralty senior engineer assessor.
The level of competence of this in authority has been declining for decades and Grenfell , like Piper Alpha, AIDs contaminated blood, Hillsborough, Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster shows what happens when people in authority lack the competence.
Increasing regulation without ensuring those in authority have the competence is just papering over the cracks. The execution of Admiral Byng for failure greatly improved the courage and competence of RN officers.
The Execution of Admiral Byng | History Today
Post Office Horizon cluster f**k to add to this sorry list of incompetence, dishonesty, moral black holes, buck passing, indifference etc etc.
A shortage of individuals ready, willing and able to ask embarrassing questions.
A shortage of people curious enough to do the necessary research and pull on the appropriate strings.
A shortage of people willing to do their jobs properly.
Official inquiries are beanfests for lawyers . There should be just 1 lawyer on the panel of PIs with the rest being experts in the pertinent fields of inquiry.
If you took your lefty spectacles off and read article again, two fires author listed happened on Labour watch.
So it is not Conservative problem.
It is failure of the state, whoever is in power.
But of course there WERE a lot of regulations! You can have good regulation, but also pointless resource intensive box ticking. I worked in the public sector and I saw this side of it too.
Regulations do not make up for a lack of ability.
The report ignored the chimney effect where temperatures rise from 600 C to 1200 C in 5 seconds.
There was no one in the chain of events who were Chartered Engineers who understood the nature of combustion.
Most of the problems in Britain over the last 60 years are because people in positions of authority lack the academic knowledge, technical skills and leadership. The investigations after disasters are often undertaken by people without the experience and are very long winded.
Regulation will not prevent inadequate people making the wrong decision. Look at the inquiry after the Titanic disaster
div > p:nth-of-type(5) > a”>British Wreck Commissioner’s inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic – Wikipedia
Inquiry started on 3rd July and report issued 30th July.
The five assessors consisted of Rear Admiral the Honourable div > p:nth-of-type(8) > a”>Somerset Gough-Calthorpe; Captain A. W. Clarke of div > p:nth-of-type(8) > a:nth-of-type(2)”>Trinity House; Commander Fitzroy Lyon of the div > p:nth-of-type(8) > a:nth-of-type(3)”>Royal Naval Reserve; Professor John Harvard Biles, an expert on naval architecture at the div > p:nth-of-type(8) > a:nth-of-type(4)”>University of Glasgow; and Edward Chaston, an div > p:nth-of-type(8) > a:nth-of-type(5)”>Admiralty senior engineer assessor.
The reality is that pre WW1 far more in authority were competent. The level of competence of this in authority has been declining for decades and Grenfell , like Piper Alpha, AIDs contaminated blood, Hillsborough, Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster shows what happens when people in authority lack the competence.
More regulation is just papering over the cracks.
How about the same speed of justice and level of prison sentences to the recent ones given to rioters.
The report ignored the chimney effect where temperatures rise from 600C to 1200 C in 5 seconds.
There was no one in the chain of events who were Chartered Engineers who understood the nature of combustion.
Most of the problems in Britain over the last 60 years are because people in positions of authority lack the academic knowledge, technical skills and leadership. The investigation are often undertaken by people without the experience and are very long winded.
Regulation will not prevent inadequate people making the wrong decision. Look at the inquiry after the Titanic disaster
div > p:nth-of-type(5) > a”>British Wreck Commissioner’s inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic – Wikipedia
Inquiry started on 3rd July and report issued 30th July.
The five assessors consisted of Rear Admiral the Honourable div > p:nth-of-type(7) > a”>Somerset Gough-Calthorpe; Captain A. W. Clarke of div > p:nth-of-type(7) > a:nth-of-type(2)”>Trinity House; Commander Fitzroy Lyon of the div > p:nth-of-type(7) > a:nth-of-type(3)”>Royal Naval Reserve; Professor John Harvard Biles, an expert on naval architecture at the div > p:nth-of-type(7) > a:nth-of-type(4)”>University of Glasgow; and Edward Chaston, an div > p:nth-of-type(7) > a:nth-of-type(5)”>Admiralty senior engineer assessor.
The level of competence of this in authority has been declining for decades and Grenfell , like Piper Alpha, AIDs contaminated blood, Hillsborough, Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster shows what happens when people in authority lack the competence.
I did not read articles about Grenfell fire report yet, so maybe this issue was included, but what about responsibility of fire brigade senior officers?
Yes, wrong cladding and installation procedures were core reason for spread of fire.
But what about decision to keep residents in instead of a evacuating the building?
That was the main reason for the death total.
I live 5 minutes from Grenfell. I was on site at about 6am.
It was obvious, and discussed with others watching, that fire was spreading fast and it was not containable with equipment available.
Fire engines had standard ladders, so water hoses could not reach higher levels of the building.
It was shown later that there are special fire tenders for tackling fires in high rise blocks available on the market (from Germany).
But they were not purchased because of cost.
The women in charge of London Fire brigade retired soon after and never had to face consequences of her actions.
Or rather inactions.
Let’s hope all the possible guilty parties are investigated and charged if appropriate.
DEI hire without much experience in the field. She followed the book.
They have now been too reports: one concerning the events of the night, which covered the fire brigade’s policies and reaction – and this one on the wider issues
An illegal immigrant set his kitchen on fire and did a runner without calling anyone as he didn’t speak English. Yes, the building wasn’t up to scratch but that’s not what caused the fire.
As a comment made below suggests, it might be that any cladding whatsoever was going to decrease the fire resilience of those building which relied on its concrete structure for containing fires – and not having chimneys attached to it!
How about going after the one who set the fire in the first place? That man caused these people to die.