Flames became an inferno with terrifying speed
‘Cladding went up like a matchstick’
AMID THE shock and incomprehension felt by survivors and witnesses of the Grenfell Tower fire, many also recounted a common and disturbing observation – the velocity with which the inferno spread through the 24-storey building.
“I think the speed of the fire was the most shocking thing for everyone, how quick it literally went from zero to 100,” said eyewitness Samiri Lamrani.
Fire investigators and police yesterday emphasised that it could not be said with any certainty what had caused the blaze to defy all design and safety expectations by failing to be contained within the flat where it began for at least an hour.
Instead, it had leapfrogged along the exterior of the building.
Many witnesses pointed to the aluminium and resin cladding attached to the exterior of Grenfell Tower as part of a £8.6m refurbishment completed last year as a key factor in deliberations about what caused such a rapid spread.
“By the time that we got downstairs, the fire had gone all the way up and it was just about reaching our windows on the 17th floor,” one local resident, Mesrob Kassemdjian, told LBC Radio: “The cladding went up like a matchstick.”
The answers to what went wrong in Grenfell Tower, one of a legacy of 1970s high rises across Britain which local authorities have sought to refurbish, will most likely lie in a tangle of unintended consequences.
The search for the answers yesterday included claims that years of concern from residents were ignored by Downing Street, where Prime Minister Theresa May’s new chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, had as housing minister promised an oft-postponed review of fire regulations last year which has yet to be published.
But it seemed yesterday that a key departure point for the investigation will be the nature of the fashionable grey and white rainscreen cladding attached to the building in 2015.
Known as “aluminium composite material” or ACM, the sheeting consists of two thin layers of aluminium enclosing a resin core and is attached to buildings to cover a layer of insulation fitted to original external walls with the aim of reducing energy consumption.
I think the speed of the fire was the most shocking thing. Eyewitness Samiri Lamrani.
Most design specifications allow for a gap or cavity of 25mm to 50mm between the panelling and the insulation to allow rain to drain away.
Experts said that in the event of a fire, this cavity can act as a chimney, both trapping burning material and encouraging flames to spread.
Arnold Tarling, a fire expert for chartered surveyors Hindwoods, said: “It produces a wind tunnel and also traps any burning material between the rain cladding and the building.
“So basically, you have got a cavity with a fire spreading behind it.”
The contract for the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower was won by Sussex-based construction company Rydon, which in turn awarded the £2.6m contract for the cladding and other upgrades including new windows to a specialist company, Harley Curtain Wall Ltd, also based in Sussex.
The specialist company went into liquidation into 2015 but was sold to its original owner and a new company – Harley Facades Ltd – continues to operate in the same sector.
Design specifications for Grenfell Tower submitted by the contractors specified the use of materials with the highest ratings for preventing the spread of flames and being “incombustible”.
In a statement, Rydon said: “Rydon completed a refurbishment of the building in the summer of 2016… which met all required building control, fire regulation and health and safety standards.”
The company said it would not be commenting further “given the ongoing nature of the incident and the tragic events”.