London Fire

[Stephen]

Absolutely horrendous. I found the images quite upsetting.

My heart goes out to those poor people.

[qbman1]

Looks awful. It's scary that a fire can spread so quickly through a block like that. As someone said, it should not be legal to have a building above the reach of standard fire hoses and ladders without a working sprinkler system

[Stephen]

.....and clad in plastic, which from all account is why it spread so rapidly. It looked like something out of a disaster movie.

Hate to think how many people have lost their lives, and such a horrible way. Doesn't bear thinking about.

[qbman1]

Seems the block recently underwent a "refurbishment". I hope the architects and builders will have some serious questions to answer

[Onelife]

Just awful!

[Manoverboard]

Incredible ... the most incredible part for me was when one of the survivors suggested that there may have been a gas leak ...

' GAS ' in a 24 storey tower block, surely not !!!!

[towny44]

I haerd that they had only recently installed gas, and they were speculating that some of holes to take the pipework may not have been reinstated adequately to maintain the cellular fireproofing. But looking at the worst of the tv footage I think the cladding was the main problem.

[Onelife]

Whilst is hasn't been proven that the cladding was to blame for the spread of the fire it certainly looks that way.

This may seem a bit drastic but until it has been proven otherwise l think all sky rise building with this type of cladding should be evacuated forthwith.

It would only take one opportunist terrorist to reenact this terrible event.

[qbman1]

Who knows - please let it not be, but it could even have been some herbert constructing a bomb that went wrong that caused this awful tragedy.

[qbman1]

Classy! That little sh*t Corbyn is already trying to make political capital out of the disaster and blaming the fire on cuts in local authority spending.

[Meg 50]

I've just been up to town for a meeting and read the reports in the Standard on the way home.

It says faulty fridge on 4th floor.

but the smoke alarms weren't audible in the flats - only on the landing....

Poor souls

[oldbluefox]

This is absolutely horrendous.
On Facecloth the left wingers are already blaming the government and the cuts, something I find distasteful in the extreme (to put it mildly). It doesn't matter which government was in power this could still have happened and the ladders and hoses would still not have been long enough.
My thoughts are with the poor souls left homeless, deceased, injured or struggling for their lives rather than trying to score political points.

[Manoverboard]

Locally inspired info / facts / gossip ( delete as applicable ) suggests that there were air vents at the ends of the cladding at the corners of the building which acted like a chimney thus fanning the flames.

[Stephen]

12 confirmed dead.....so far.

Terrible

[Not so ancient mariner]

Seems the block recently underwent a "refurbishment". I hope the architects and builders will have some serious questions to answer

I'm not wishing to speculate on the final outcome of the inevitable enquiry, but I can't imagine that the boss of the company who carried out the refurbishment, nor the council official who signed it off, will sleep too well tonight.

[Mervyn and Trish]

This is absolutely horrendous.
On Facecloth the left wingers are already blaming the government and the cuts, something I find distasteful in the extreme (to put it mildly). It doesn't matter which government was in power this could still have happened and the ladders and hoses would still not have been long enough.
My thoughts are with the poor souls left homeless, deceased, injured or struggling for their lives rather than trying to score political points.

I'm horrified by those trying to score political points out of this tragedy. Perhaps they need reminding the Tories have been in power for 7 years. Someone else was in government for 13 years before that.........

[Kendhni]

A real tragedy. So very very sad.
May be down to a faulty fridge

[qbman1]

This is absolutely horrendous.
On Facecloth the left wingers are already blaming the government and the cuts, something I find distasteful in the extreme (to put it mildly). It doesn't matter which government was in power this could still have happened and the ladders and hoses would still not have been long enough.
My thoughts are with the poor souls left homeless, deceased, injured or struggling for their lives rather than trying to score political points.

Facecloth and Twaddle have become so left wing, they should set up their own political party

[david63]

Facecloth and Twaddle have become so left wing, they should set up their own political party

Don't say that - they would probably win the next election

[colin parry]

It really is reprehensible that some people are making political capital out of this tragedy. Why can't they wait for the enquiry which will undoubtedly follow. For the people searching for lost relatives I can only offer my prayers.

[oldbluefox]

I would have thought that in times of tragedy such as this it would be a good idea for the country to come together and unite. Listening to the press and the media it seems that making a political point is uppermost. I feel as you do Colin. It is almost as though those people who have been so tragically affected don't matter. That is where the focus of attention should lie, not on political point scoring.

[Dancing Queen]

Absolutely horrendous, whatever the cause there are hundreds of high rise flats around the country so the priority should be they are all checked out pdq.

I know these things have to be reported but I can't help thinking we've just given terrorists another idea how to target hundreds of innocent people with little chance of detection.

[CaroleF]

John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, has called for people to join a protest on the streets in London on July 1st in order to remove Theresa May from office. He has called on all the Union Members to join in. This is rule by Mob! I thought we were a democratic country - the people voted, the Conservatives got more votes than the Labour Party. Is this what our country is coming to?

[oldbluefox]

John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, has called for people to join a protest on the streets in London on July 1st in order to remove Theresa May from office. He has called on all the Union Members to join in. This is rule by Mob! I thought we were a democratic country - the people voted, the Conservatives got more votes than the Labour Party. Is this what our country is coming to?

Why am I not surprised? In a time of difficulty and distress it's good to see our politicians working together.

[david63]

I wonder if Jeremy Corbin understands how the House of Commons works? He is asking demanding a debate on this fire - the only problem is that there cannot be a debate as parliament is not sitting until after the Queen's Speech!!