Huge Fire In Block Of Flats

[Adz The Rat]

ambuletz said:

One of the eyewitnesses right now on BBC news (who lives on the 4th floor) said that his neighbours fridge exploded and caused the fire.

Do fridges explode? Ive never heard of one doing that.

Horrible news to see this morning, those images on the first page look like something from a movie.

It must have been extremely difficult for those living high up to get out, it won't have been pretty inside and when full of smoke it must be near impossible to navigate.

[greygoose]

I must say I am astonished that communal areas do not require fire alarms and sprinklers are not installed in tower blocks, I just assumed they would be. Some residents are reporting that works were ongoing with the gas supply to some flats which may have contributed to the inferno.

[p1stonhead]

Oceanic said:

One witness on TV just said he had seen "40 or 50 people die in front of him" :-(

Even if we get one fatality it will be sad, but this looks utterly grim! :-(

These are the sorts of numbers I was thinking. I really hope its not true.

[Mr GrimNasty]

Chap interviewed by BBC before he broke down says fire started on his floor (4th) and his neighbour later said his fridge had exploded (Beko issue?), also said there were (or they were installing?) large gas pipes in the stairwell?

This has the potential to be one of the worst peacetime tragedies in the UK I fear, some of the witness stories are horrendous.

Please no bickering on PH today. Just prayers.

[Shaw Tarse]

skyrover said:

Just noticed there are 3 identical tower blocks nearby.

I wonder the their fate will be.

I really wouldn't be happy living in one

[SkrrSkrr]

TheGuru said:

In it's original state the fire probably wouldn't have spread and that would be safe advice. But being renovated and having cladding allows the fire to spread like this.

Still better to leave, Whats the point in waiting till it's to late to do something

If I hear the alarm go in my block i'm out of here, i'd rather be safe than sorry

[Antony Moxey]

ambuletz said:

One of the eyewitnesses right now on BBC news (who lives on the 4th floor) said that his neighbours fridge exploded and caused the fire.

This is the trouble with live eye witness reports. How could he possibly know that? Perhaps the fire was already going elsewhere in the building and that caused the fridge to explode.

I do think the whole live eyewitness reports thing both ghoulish and misleading. The chap I mentioned above might well be wrong, plus it always seems as though the reporters are almost desperate to find someone to tell them about throwing children from windows. I don't want to hear of such things, I can see it's a tragedy, I don't need to know the minutiae of how people have died or been injured. Then of course after all of that we have the news anchors apologising for the harrowing nature of eyewitness reports.

[anonymous-user]

Pretty grubby reporting on sky news.

Man - I saw a woman jumping from the window
Reporter - can you tell us more about it?
Man - She lept out from really high up.
Reporter - what happened to her next, did you see her fall or hit the ground?

[Eric Mc]

Mr GrimNasty said:

Chap interviewed by BBC before he broke down says fire started on his floor (4th) and his neighbour later said his fridge had exploded (Beko issue?), also said there were (or they were installing?) large gas pipes in the stairwell?

This has the potential to be one of the worst peacetime tragedies in the UK I fear, some of the witness stories are horrendous.

Please no bickering on PH today. Just prayers.

Absolutely.

This is going to be a national tragedy.

[Vaud]

Shaw Tarse said:

skyrover said:

Just noticed there are 3 identical tower blocks nearby.

I wonder the their fate will be.

I really wouldn't be happy living in one

Hopefully emergency inspections by qualified people of the fabric and fire equipment, give a smoke alarm and extinguisher to every resident.... or offer temp accommodation to everyone for 2 weeks while they are properly inspected.

[SydneyBridge]

especially with most people asleep and the fire seemingly being spread from outside (via the cladding), rather than inside

[RedTrident]

Heartbreaking scenes. I have no doubt many people have lost their lives.

I've had to turn the tv off. The reporter was taking too much satisfaction for me. Hopefully they manage to get as many people out as possible. I fear the worse.

[Byker28i]

sky reporter Mark White has picked up some of the debris that has been landing at a distance of 5 to 10 streets in the surrounding area. He says it is very light, and like polystyrene

[CAPP0]

ambuletz said:

One of the eyewitnesses right now on BBC news (who lives on the 4th floor) said that his neighbours fridge exploded and caused the fire.

How does a fridge explode? With the exception of the electricity surely everything else is inert?

[p1stonhead]

Byker28i said:

sky reporter Mark White has picked up some of the debris that has been landing at a distance of 5 to 10 streets in the surrounding area. He says it is very light, and like polystyrene

I would be very surprised if the cladding wasnt some sort of insulated aluminum sandwich panel.

Kingspan are one of the biggest supplier of proper ones (with appropriate fire resistance).
https://www.kingspan.com/au/en-au/products-brands/...

No idea what cheap crap these guys might have used.

[p1stonhead]

CAPP0 said:

ambuletz said:

One of the eyewitnesses right now on BBC news (who lives on the 4th floor) said that his neighbours fridge exploded and caused the fire.

How does a fridge explode? With the exception of the electricity surely everything else is inert?

Certainly seems possible;

http://www.acr-news.com/fridge-explosion-sparks-wo...

'Samsung Electronics has decided to take this action after concluding that in a minority of cases the models' defrost system may require repair to put right a defect in its assembly. In very rare cases, there is the potential for internal sparking to occur and in consequence, damage to the appliance.' - See more at: http://www.acr-news.com/fridge-explosion-sparks-wo...

[Blue Oval84]

The "we need to investigate" response reminds me of the fire at the Tannery Development in, I think, Cantebury, a few years back.

That building was made of wood, and Bellway stated they would launch an urgent investigation to see how it could burn down so quickly when it caught fire. Well, I'm no scientist but I'd suggest the timber construction may have had a large impact.

How come people who should know better, seem to allow the installation of flammable building materials on high-rise blocks? Is it stupidity? Or are contractors buying in cheap stuff that doesn't meet the standards it claims to?

At this time of year I've no doubt it spread so quickly because most people will have had their windows open. I know I live in a low-rise concrete block and at this time of year the windows are open 24/7, if the cladding caught fire it would literally get into each flat and go up like a wick.

[MrBarry123]

Poor people.

[TheGuru]

SydneyBridge said:

especially with most people asleep and the fire seemingly being spread from outside (via the cladding), rather than inside

Based on the plans there is a central staircase - which should have been fire/smoke proof. I wonder why this was not an option for the higher floors.

[p1stonhead]

TheGuru said:

SydneyBridge said:

especially with most people asleep and the fire seemingly being spread from outside (via the cladding), rather than inside

Based on the plans there is a central staircase - which should have been fire/smoke proof. I wonder why this was not an option for the higher floors.

If smoke or fire gets into the central core then things get very bad very quickly for anyone above