Grenfell Tower fire

The **Grenfell Tower fire** started shortly before 1am BST on 14 June 2017 in a tall building or tower block, Grenfell Tower, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, West London, England. The fire killed 72 people. Grenfell Tower was built in 1974, and was used for housing people. The flats in the building were subsidized: meaning the government paid part or all of the rent of the people who lived there.

## Fire
In the early hours of 14 June, 2017, a fire broke out in the building, which caused massive damage to nearly all of the building. The fire broke out around the 4th floor of the 23 floor building. It was signalled to police at 0:54 local time. The fire brigade took 6 minutes to get to the tower. In total, 70 fire engines, and more than 200 firefighters were trying to put out the fire. On the 14th of June, at the end of the day, the number of people injured (and taken to hospitals) was about eighty, about 20 were in a critical condition. About 72 people died in the fire. There could have been up to 600 people in the 120 one- and two-bedroom flats of the block at the time of the fire. The number of people that were in the building when the fire broke out is unknown; police have estimated around 200. Images later presented to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry suggested that the fire may have reached the outside before the firefighters had begun to tackle the initial fire in flat 16. The flames spread up the side at a "terrifying rate", By 01:29, a rising column of flames had reached the roof

Many people believe this rapid spread was due to the outside of the building, which had been changed recently. This cladding seemed to contain highly flammable material.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said there were "questions that have to be answered" about the fire-safety conditions at the Grenfell Tower. Khan criticised the safety instructions telling people to stay in their flats in particular:
"We can't have people's lives being put at risk because of bad advice or lack of maintenance." The advice of staying in the flat assumes that firefighters can contain the fire inside the building, which is impossible if it is spreading rapidly via its outside. The advice may have proved fatal to many people.

## Extinguishing the fire 
A team of 250 firefighters from forty fire engines attempted to control the fire and rescue people. The first emergency services arrived six minutes after the alarm, but the fire's very high temperature slowed rescue attempts. At 04:14, officials from the Metropolitan Police addressed the large crowd of onlookers and urgently told them to contact anyone they knew who was trapped in the building—if they are able to reach them via phone or social media—to tell them they must try to self-evacuate and not wait for the fire brigade. Firefighters entered the building to try to rescue people but reported they were hindered by the extreme heat. There were also eyewitness reports that some people were jumping out. Frequent explosions that were reported to be from gas lines in the building were heard.

After three hours, the original crew of firefighters were replaced. By sunrise, the firefighters were still battling the fire and trying to spray areas where people were seen trapped. The watching crowd were pushed back from the building because of falling debris. At 05:00, the building was still burning and severely damaged. Although fears were expressed that the building could collapse, structural engineers determined that it was not in danger and that rescue teams could enter it to search for survivors, casualties and bodies.  Several media outlets reported that it may have been caused by a faulty kitchen appliance. A fourth-floor resident told the media that it was his neighbour's fridge that caught fire around 1:00&nbsp;am, and that they immediately began knocking on doors to alert people. He said that within half an hour the building was entirely engulfed in flames.

## Problems 
### Poorly maintained 
The inhabitants of the building organised the Grenfell Action Group, years ago. They regularly pointed out problems with the building. In 2013, they published part of a report, where they showed that the protection against fire was insufficient in the building.  Regulations require that these materials are checked regularly. According to the 2013 report of action group, there had been no such checks in the three years before the report.

When a building is on fire, people need to be able to get out quickly. Usually, there are specially signalled escape lanes for this. The action group pointed out that the escape lanes were not free, and people often parked their cars in such a way that the police was unable to get close to the building.

There had been various repairs and renovations in the building, from 2014 to 2016. The company who was responsible for these works said that they were shocked, at what had happened, and that at the time the works had been done, regulations had been met.

### Materials on the outside of the building may have helped the fire spread 
. Similar panels are often used for the outside of buildings. If the part between the two layers (shown white here, and usually much smaller) has a low fire resistance, this will create a chimney effect which helps the spread of the fire.]]

When the building was renovated, the materials used for the outside of the building were changed. Fire safety experts have speculated that this new material was a possible cause of the rapid spread of the fire. They said it essentially worked like a chimney in spreading the fire. The material could be seen burning and melting, causing additional speculation that it was not fire resistant. One resident said, "The whole one side of the building was on fire. The cladding went up like a matchstick."

Records show that a contractor installed "over-cladding with ACM cassette rain screen" during the recent refurbishment at Grenfell Tower. The term ACM stands for aluminium composite material. With this kind of material, the choice of insulation core material determines how easily it can be burned. Sam Webb, the architect who investigated the Lakanal fire and who sits on the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety & Rescue Group, said "This tragedy was entirely predictable, sadly."

The product used was Reynobond, which is available with different types of core material—polyethylene, as reportedly used in Grenfell Tower (Reynobond PE), or a more fire-resistant material (Reynobond FR). The Reynobond cladding reportedly cost £24 per square metre for the fireproof versions, and £22 for the flammable version.

According to the US-based manufacturer of Reynobond, the polyethylene version of the material is banned in the United States for use in buildings exceeding  in height, because of the risk of spreading fire and smoke. The refurbishment also used an insulation foam product named Celotex RS5000, installed behind the cladding.
According to its datasheet, the polyisocyanurate product—charred pieces of which littered the area around Grenfell Tower after the fire—"will burn if exposed to a fire of sufficient heat and intensity".
The cladding at Grenfell seems to have been used to decorate other apartment blocks. People are concerned that the affected buildings may face the same problems.

Some residents had reported concern that the new cladding on the building was fixed onto it with wooden battens. There is widespread concern amongst residents and fire safety experts about the increasing use of timber, even in high-rise buildings, following a change to building regulations. It was reported that one reason for the new cladding was to improve the view for people living in the surrounding area.

### Automatic fire alarm system may have failed 
Some residents said no fire alarms went off when the fire started. of which the Grenfell Action Group is a member, said that the fire was "a horrific, preventable tragedy" that was the result of a "combination of government cuts, local authority mismanagement, and sheer contempt for council tenants and the homes they live in". Saint Clement Church on Treadgold Street and St James' Church, Norlands, in the Deanery of Kensington, provided shelter for people evacuated from their homes,

Nearby Queens Park Rangers Football Club have offered their Loftus Road venue as a relief centre and are accepting donations of food, drink and clothing from the local community, and other nearby football clubs Brentford and Fulham have offered their stadiums as relief centres.

## Related page
*2010 Shanghai fire
## References