Inquiry slams stay-put advice
Residents of London’s Grenfell Tower were wrongly told to stay in their apartments as fire raged through the high-rise building nearly a year ago, aided by flammable external cladding and a host of fire-safety failings, an expert report said yesterday.
Fire-safety engineer Barbara Lane said the fire department’s ‘‘stay put’’ policy was shown to have ‘‘effectively failed’’ barely half an hour into the fire. But residents of the 25-storey building weren’t warned to evacuate until more than an hour after that, at
2.47am, Lane said. By that point,
187 people had fled the building and 107 remained. Of those, 36 were able to get out. The other 71 died.
Lawyer Richard Millett, chief counsel to an inquiry investigating the June 14, 2017 Grenfell fire, said ‘‘it may be that the formal maintenance of that advice until 2.47am made all the difference between life and death.’’
Lane’s report was published by the judge-led inquiry probing causes of the fire, which started in the kitchen of a fourth-floor apartment, likely in a faulty refrigerator, and raced within minutes up the 25-storey public housing block.
Lane, a director of engineering firm Arup, said that a renovation completed in 2016 installed flammable aluminum and polyethylene cladding on the tower’s facade and led to ‘‘multiple catastrophic fire-spread routes.’’
Lane said there had been ‘‘a culture of non-compliance’’ with safety regulations, and identified multiple failures. Elevators failed, a smoke ventilation system did not work properly and doors did not shut or were left open, allowing smoke to spread.
‘‘The building envelope itself was therefore a major hazard on Richard Millett, chief counsel to an inquiry investigating the June 14, 2017 Grenfell fire the night of the fire,’’ Lane concluded. She said the consequences ‘‘were catastrophic.’’
The inquiry, which began hearing evidence yesterday and is expected to last about 18 months, aims to find the causes of Britain’s deadliest fire in decades and to prevent future tragedies.
It will examine how the blaze started and spread, the response of emergency services and local authorities, and the country’s high-rise building regulations.
A 72nd victim injured in the blaze died in January.
Police say they are considering individual or corporate manslaughter charges. – AP