The death toll has now risen to 30. Horrible.
An inferno which engulfed a tower block, killing at least 12 in what could become one of the biggest fire tragedies in British history, was a “disaster waiting to happen”, experts have said.
Fears were raised that green energy concerns were prioritised ahead of safety as it emerged that cladding used to make the building more sustainable could have accelerated the fire….
…as emergency services continued to search the 24-storey building for victims, there were claims that warnings about safety had been ignored.
Government ministers were warned about the fire risk of cladding as far back as 1999, the Daily Telegraph can reveal….
Tens of thousands of buildings in the UK have been fitted with cladding, it is estimated, leading to calls for an immediate review of safety.
Experts said that the cladding – which is used to insulate the building – had acted like a “chimney” for the flames by allowing the fire to spread upwards through the gaps between the cladding and the building walls….
Alongside the cosmetic appeal of cladding, it is used as an insulation to make buildings more sustainable to meet green energy requirements….
Yes, environmentalism is a con job, with lethal results.
So much for “sustainability.” Prayers to all affected.
Does look like that there has been a problem with cladding fires that has received insufficient attention. Blog post at NFPA (National Fire Protection Assn) from this January refers to the 2015 New Year’s Eve Dubai fire. That was a cladding fire though the suspicion was that the cladding was flammable. Fortunately there were few injuries likely due to being a modern bldg. with full sprinkler system and probably no natural gas source either. Link to paper in the 5th sentence goes to a short paper just published about concerns with cladding and fire safety from a UK perspective. Awful. Prayers to all. https://community.nfpa.org/community/nfpa-today/blog/2017/01/27/is-this-the-end-of-exterior-cladding-fires-in-dubai
NFPA official says similar fire unlikely in U.S. due to our testing protocol.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/17/green-energy-unlikely-to-fuel-london-style-building-fire-in-the-us-expert-says/
We’ve had a saying in my state for years… “Go Green, Go Broke.”
I have a colleague in real estate risk management and construction. She told me several years ago that this green/sustainable trend in building is garbage and not to use any of these products in a renovation on my home. She also said it is not durable, deteriorates quickly, and is dangerous because many of the products to not meet basic safety standards.