24-level building tower fire in West London 33

[Ingenuity]

Link

Looks like the building is fully engulfed. Residents trapped in the upper levels.

40 engine and 200 firefighter response.

 

[hokie66]

Terrible fire. We can only hope that most of the people got out.

 

[hokie66]

Some information being reported by Wikipedia. No idea how accurate it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire

 

[Ingenuity]

hokie66:

This is not good. Dubai, revisited, again!

I had to really pull myself out to look down the window, from the 17th floor, and I see the fire blazing, and coming up really fast, because of the cladding — the cladding was really flammable, and it just caught up like a matchstick.”

And this:

According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the tower block contains 120 flats and is 24 storeys high. It is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) on behalf of the council and had undergone a two-year, £10m refurbishment that was completed last year. The work included new exterior cladding and a communal heating system.

 

[Ingenuity]

Sorry, I was typing my 05:56 post when you posted your 05:50 post. We are both thinking along similar lines.

I noticed from a recent AU press release there are an estimated "2500 high-rise buildings in Sydney could contain the same type of non-compliant and ­deadly cladding".

 

[hokie66]

It is uncertain from reports so far if the cladding is the same as in the UAE fires, and the one in Melbourne. And yes, Australia has a big problem with this Chinese cladding. Don't know about the US.

 

[jhardy1]

Flammable cladding was my first thought too - some of the videos show what appear to be continuous tongues of flame tracking across several stories eternally - I'll be very interested to see what is confirmed in due course.

http://julianh72.blogspot.com

 

[GregLocock]

Many new builds in Melbourne are also fitted with unsafe cladding

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/f...-new-melbourne-highrises-20160216-gmvrmo.html

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[MacGyverS2000]

I never expected to see a Wikipedia page updated more quickly than a news outlet page, nor to be so fact-filled in such a short period of time. This thing was created/filled out in <<24 hours.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[MartinLe]

This is horrible.

Can someone enlighten me and fire risks & cladding?
Specifically, polystyrol cladding: Codes over here (Germany) call for firebreaks (from rockwool) around openings or a barrier around the building every two floors. Is this actually sufficient (where there fires that jumped such a barrier?)

Accodring to one (manufactuerers!) sheet, there's flame retardant polysyrol that extinguishes on it's own without additional, burning, fuel. So flame retardant polystyrol + no use of wood or other flammable material should provide a safe cladding, or are there other complications?

Does anyone know what UK codes call for in cladding re. fire safety?

 

[ehbadger]

A 8.7 million pound ($11 million) refurbishment of the block was carried out by construction company Rydon and completed in July 2016. It included new external cladding, replacement windows and curtain wall facades, according to Rydon's website.

A new communal heating system and a bespoke smoke extraction and ventilation system were also installed.

Rydon said it was shocked to hear of the devastating fire and its immediate thoughts were with those affected.

The company said its refurbishment of the building met all required building control, fire regulation and health & safety standards.

One of the videos had a resident say there was no central alarm system. I'm not from the UK but do the fire regulations really not require that?!

 

[MartinLe]

The article in linked in the first post quotes one resident: "The whole landing was thick with smoke. The smoke alarms weren't going off but the way it spread so quickly from the fourth floor, all the way up to the 23rd floor was scary"

and another:
"He said he was alerted to the fire not by fire alarms but by people on the street below, shouting "don't jump, don't jump"."

Possible there was an alarm, but not working?

 

[BigInch]

Just the number of buildings outside the USA that do not have outward opening doors in all escape routes is absolutely astonishing to me. First principle of USA fire protection for about 100 years now. I never did check the cladding for inflammability, but was very proud that it was I whom was responsible for Petrofac changing their escape door configuration in their Sharjah headquarters building to open in the outward direction.

Richard Feynman's Problem Solving Algorithm
1. Write down the problem.
2. Think very hard.
3. Write down the answer.

 

[JAE]

Wow...
Totally charred exterior cladding.

Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
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[dik]

Some fire retardants are surficial and deteriorate over time. Had a sample for a membrane structure proposed for an outdoor theatre in Winnipeg, that was 'supposedly' fireproof... used to smoke at the time and cut off a strip and held it in my fingers and put my lighter to it... burned like nitrocellulose... good thing it was a tile floor and not carpet when I dropped it.

Government was involved, so not likely that anyone will be charged with criminal negligence causing death...

Dik

 

[dik]

from the BBC, "Twelve people have died in a west London tower block fire and the number of deaths are expected to rise, police have said."

Dik

 

[3DDave]

Conditions matter a great deal as to what limits flammability and flame resistance. I would expect that out-gassing of flammable components of the cladding and the self-reinforcing convection from the vertical orientation allowed the reaction to outpace any retardant. Once it spreads to the interiors, there is a continuous ignition source.

 

[msquared48]

WOW 2!

Looks like a match going up in flame.

Any word yet as to what started the fire at the 4th story?

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[Brad805]

There has been some discussion about the impact of the rain screen.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ghters-experts-reason-why-cause-a7789336.html

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...rse-reports/story-0lLmkE1InqbFNcMceZEQQJ.html

 

[Ingenuity]

ACM supplier/installer (NOT panel manufacturer) was HARLEY FACADES:

Link

Statement Link

Harley Facades Limited completed the refurbishment work to Grenfell Tower. This included the installation of exterior cladding.

The Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) panels are a commonly used product in the refurbishment industry. Harley Facades Limited do not manufacture these panels.

Commenting on the fire, Ray Bailey, Managing Director at Harley Facades Limited said:

“This is an incredibly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the residents and their families who have suffered such a personal loss. We will fully support and cooperate with the investigations into this fire. There will be many questions about this whole incident and so you will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for us to comment or for others to speculate on any aspect of fire or it causes in advance of these inquiries. At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding to the tower.”