Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Anger after the fire
Protesters confront police inside Kensington Town Hall as tensions rose in the aftermath of a deadly fire this week at a London housing tower. A newspaper report Friday said materials used in the building’s renovation could have fueled the inferno.
LONDON — Grief turned to outrage Friday over a deadly high-rise tower fire in London amid reports that materials used in the building’s renovation could have fueled the inferno that left dozens dead and missing as it decimated the public housing block.
Engineering experts say outside insulation panels installed on the 24-story Grenfell Tower may have helped the fire spread rapidly from one floor to the next. The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that contractors installed a cheaper, less flame-resistant type of paneling in the renovation that ended in May 2016.
Tensions were high Friday two days after the overnight fire gutted the huge housing block, killing at least 30 people and leaving dozens missing and hundreds homeless.
Scuffles broke out near the Kensington and Chelsea town hall offices as demonstrators chanting “We want justice!” surged toward the doors.
London has a chronic housing shortage even in the best of times, and those left homeless by the fire — already angry over what they see as government inequity and incompetence — fear being forced out of the British capital.
The Grenfell Tower housed about 600 people in 120 apartments. The U.K.’s Press Association reported that some 70 people are still missing after the fire.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said people were frustrated by the lack of information about the missing and the dead as well as a lack of coordination between support services. Residents who survived the tower blaze lost everything and have no idea where they are going to live or how they will get back on their feet.
“The scale of this tragedy is clearly proving too much for the local authority to cope with on their own,” Khan said in an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May.
After meeting with Grenfell survivors on Friday, May announced a $6.4 million fund to help them and expressed sorrow for their plight. The package includes a guarantee to rehouse people as close as possible to where they previously lived — a poor neighborhood surrounded by extreme wealth.
“[This aims] to give the victims the immediate support they need to care for themselves and for loved ones,” May said.
But the Conservative leader still struggled to overcome accusations that she lacked compassion because she had failed to meet with victims on her first visit to the devastated site. Police surrounded May as she left a church Friday after the meeting with survivors and protesters shouted “Shame on you!” and “Coward!”
Using drones and sniffer dogs, firefighters continued to search the burned-out housing block that looms over the low-income community in west London.
The fire, which started just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, surprised many as they slept and the speed with which it spread shocked fire experts.
Metropolitan Police commander Stuart Cundy responded to fears that the number of dead could exceed 100, saying: “I really hope it isn’t.”
London police have started an investigation to determine whether any crimes contributed to the blaze. May on Thursday announced a public inquiry while Khan called for an interim report on the fire to be published this summer.
Grenfell Tower is a public housing project owned by the local government council and managed by a nonprofit known as the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organization. The group last year completed a $12.8 million renovation that included new outside insulation panels, double-paned windows and a communal heating system.
Aluminum composite panels consist of two thin layers of aluminum sandwiched around a lightweight insulating material. Standard versions use plastic such as polyethylene for the core, while more expensive variants use fire-resistant material.
The Guardian reported Friday that Omnis Exteriors supplied the aluminum composite material used in the cladding. The newspaper quoted company director John Cowley as saying the building used Reynobond PE cladding, which is cheaper than Reynobond FR, which stands for “fire resistant.”
The International Building Code calls for the use of fire-resistant cores in buildings more than 40 feet tall to slow the spread of flames.
The company that installed the exterior cladding, Harley Facades, issued a statement this week saying the panels are “commonly used” in refurbishing buildings. It did not address the exact makeup of the panels.
“It would not be appropriate for us to comment or for others to speculate on any aspect of fire, or its causes, in advance of these inquiries,” Managing Director Ray Bailey said. “At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding to the tower.”
Families searching for loved ones have blanketed the area near the tower with posters. Whole families are said to be among the missing.
Nearly 110 families made homeless from the blaze are being housed at hotels in west London. Churches and community centers are providing meals and support, and donations of clothing, toys and household supplies are flooding in.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William visited an aid distribution site Friday for the tower’s residents and met with volunteers.