Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Numerous Grenfell safety flaws revealed
A DECADE of safety blunders in refurbishments at Grenfell Tower have been exposed at the inquiry into last year’s inferno.
Faults were found by expert witness Dr Barbara Lane in work on the lifts, the fire-fighting water supply and an exposed gas pipe.
She told the inquiry that work carried out on the lifts in 2005 and 2012 left them unfit for evacuating tenants and helping the emergency services in the tragedy that claimed 72 lives.
The lifts did not have a secondary power supply or doors that could resist fire for 60 minutes.
And she blasted the tower’s dry riser system – the pipes that firefighters use to pump water to tackle a blaze – which relies on an external supply with good water pressure. Dr Lane told the inquiry: “Eventually a height is reached where the water pressure… cannot effectively operate a fire hose.”
Design guides say the system should only be used in buildings up to 164ft tall, and the tower in West London was 220ft high.
Grenfell should have had an internal water tank, she said. And a gas pipe running from the basevulnerable ment throughout the building was installed in 2016 and remained exposed during the fire, she added.
Dr Lane pointed out that the fire brigade’s stay-put strategy, feared to have cost lives, relied on all safety measures working properly.
Her report also said that none of the flats’ entrance fire doors met building standards.
The inquiry continues.