No fire trucks tall enough to reach the top

NOT one fire appliance in the UK would have been tall enough to reach the top of Grenfell Tower, it emerged yesterday.

Fire chiefs in London had to borrow a 42metre (138ft) ‘aerial platform’ from neighbouring Surrey to help tackle the blaze.

The £700,000 truck, the tallest in the country, was among 40 fire-fighting vehicles which attended the disaster.

Although bigger than every appliance in London, it was still unable to reach the top of the 70metre (230ft) tower block.

And it is tiny compared to appliances in the US, where aerial platforms such as the ‘112 Bronto Sky Lift’ can reach a maximum height of 112metres (367ft).

The disclosure raises questions about whether Britain’s fire services are suitably equipped to deal with fires in high-rise buildings. The tallest aerial appliances in the London Fire Brigade’s fleet only reach a maximum of about 30metres (98ft).

The fire affected all floors of the 24-storey building, and was finally extinguished after 24 hours. The higher floors, which could not be reached, burned themselves out.

Former Surrey police and crime commissioner Kevin Hurley said ‘it was a no brainer’ that LFB should have ‘several 42metre trucks of its own’. LFB said: ‘Although ladders with a greater height than our current aerial appliances do exist, they require more room and carry more weight and so are often impractical in a city like London.’