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GRENFELL TOWER FIRE

The cladding was not fireproof but just fire resistant and the mistake was that the building regulations did not spot the difference quickly enough.  The survivors are looking for someone to blame but this is not appropriate as it was a mistake by the authorities not the design engineers..

BUT more importantly what do we do about the other buildings that are at risk; to avoid another disaster?

Well, the fire fighters problem was that they could not get up above the fire and douse it or rescue the residence in the upper floors.

SO priority must be to remove the cladding on the tall tower blocks first and at the same time arrange for roof access for all residents in the case of fires.  Once the roof is a secure place then crane helicopters can be used to evacuate any residents that are unable to escape downwards due to the fire. 

In my book, the loss of life at Grenfell would have been minimal if the roof had been equipped with a secure area, i.e a fireproof [asbestos cement clad] container on its roof.
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  • CliveS:

    Well, there are plenty of choppers with fire buckets underneath that scoop up water to drop on forest fires;  so how much more important will it be to drop the water onto a flaming tower block with people inside. 

     




    Whilst the technique is useful for the likes of forest fires, where the fire is primarily in the horizontal plane, it be as an effective technique on a tower block fire, where the fire is primarily in the vertical plane?


    What also of the issue of dropping what will amount to perhaps several tonnes (1000 L water = 1000 kg) of water onto a building where people may be trapped or still evacuating and which may already be structurally weakened by fire?


    In terms of the availability of suitable helicopters, it is interesting to note that during a recent fire on Saddleworth Moor, England that the helicopter used was provided by a utility company (I assume normally used for line inspection work) whilst last year during a fire in the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland that helicopters had to be provided by the Irish Defence Forces Air Corps - both may be an indicator of the number of suitable helicopters available within the UK?

     

Reply

  • CliveS:

    Well, there are plenty of choppers with fire buckets underneath that scoop up water to drop on forest fires;  so how much more important will it be to drop the water onto a flaming tower block with people inside. 

     




    Whilst the technique is useful for the likes of forest fires, where the fire is primarily in the horizontal plane, it be as an effective technique on a tower block fire, where the fire is primarily in the vertical plane?


    What also of the issue of dropping what will amount to perhaps several tonnes (1000 L water = 1000 kg) of water onto a building where people may be trapped or still evacuating and which may already be structurally weakened by fire?


    In terms of the availability of suitable helicopters, it is interesting to note that during a recent fire on Saddleworth Moor, England that the helicopter used was provided by a utility company (I assume normally used for line inspection work) whilst last year during a fire in the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland that helicopters had to be provided by the Irish Defence Forces Air Corps - both may be an indicator of the number of suitable helicopters available within the UK?

     

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