The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Britain marks six months since deadly tower fire
Service remembers 71 victims, families still left homeless.
LONDON — Marking six months since the deadliest fire in modern British history, members of the royal family attended events Thursday that commemorated the 71 dead but also underscored the lingering hardships and questions since the Gren- fell Tower was engulfed by flames.
More than 100 families remain in temporary accommodations after the June 14 blaze, and some survivors and nearby residents worry their concerns may not be given full attention in the official inquiry into the tragedy.
Fire safety measures still loom large, including appeals to root out the type of flam- mable exterior material used on the 24-story Grenfell that contributed ing Grenfell high Britain’s Kensington highlighted trast The inferno above between fire residents richest occurred and the to - the leaving the the Chelsea street. boroughs stark fast-mov- rich in trapped one some - con- and and of - others ing ple More attended in the in than lower-grade neighborhood. the 1,500 six-month hous- peomemorial Cathedral including British service in central Prime at St. London, Paul’s Minister Charles, Theresa the Duke May, and Prince Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry.
Some of the family members at the service - some weeping - clutched pictures of loved ones lost in the fire, which started in the kitchen of a fourth-floor apartment and quickly enveloped the high-rise. Fifty-three adults and 18 children died.
At one point during Thurs- day’s service, voice recordings of those who escaped were played.
“I smelled smoke, but I assumed it was — my mom always has a little candle, so I went to blow out the candle,” said one male voice. “Windows broke, things were falling to the floor. And then, in the space of six minutes, the fire had already reached six floors above,” said a female survivor. A total of 111 families still live in emergency accommodation, including hotels. According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, 45 households have moved into a per- manent address and 54 into a temporary home. More families have accepted per- manent housing offers, but have yet to move. “We have an army of 300 staff working around the clock,” Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said in a statement emailed by the council. The council came under intense criticism for how it ignored complaints from Grenfell residents before the fire over various fire safety concerns, such as the lack of sprinklers. Emotions remain so raw that some of the Grenfell families said they did not want the council at the ser- vice. Campbell, who was elected leader of the council after the Grenfell fire, did not attend. “I want them to know that we will be thinking of them. We hope to rebuild trust, but we understand that we have a long way to go,” she said. Reflecting the diversity of Grenfell Tower, the multifaith memorial service on Thursday included a girls’ choir from an Islamic faith school, and a piece of music played on an oud. At the end of the service, children from schools near the Gren- fell Tower scattered green hearts - a symbol of the Gren- fell fire - in memory of those who lost their lives. Earlier this week, the first hearings were held in a government-ordered pub- lic inquiry into the fire. The probe has come under criticism from survivors and locals who are concerned that their voices are not being given the prominence they deserve. Ahmed Chellat, 60, was at the procedural hearings this week. His brother-in-law, his wife and their three children died in the fire. “It’s still devastating,” he said. He said he was hopeful that the inquiry could “find out the truth and prevent it from happening again,” but he wanted to see someone from the local community on the inquiry’s advisory panel. “We really need someone from the social housing point of view, the ethnic background point of view, to put our issues across.” David Lammy, a Labour Party lawmaker who lost a friend in the fire, tweeted on Thursday that survivors and family members “must be at the heart of the inquiry.” A separate criminal investigation is underway, which could take more than a year to complete. London’s Metropolitan Police has said they will consider individual and corporate manslaughter charges.