NEWS
Grenfell Tower inquiry – phase one report
and ensure these urgent matters of public safety are addressed. ‘The true culprits of the fire are those who wrapped the building in flammable cladding, who gutted the UK’s fire safety regime, who ignored the warnings from previous fires, and who did not hear the pleas of a community worried for their safety. We will be watching phase two of the inquiry closely to ensure they are held to account. But we cannot wait for years for the inquiry to conclude. Change is needed now.’
National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Roy Wilsher, NFCC chair, stated: ‘The Grenfell Tower fire was unparalleled in this country in terms of the scale of the impact this tragedy has had on the community; I have never seen a fire like it in my career. The way members of the Grenfell community have carried themselves throughout the last two-and-a-half years with the dignity and compassion they have in the pursuit of justice, has been truly humbling to witness. ‘My thoughts today are also with all those first responders at Grenfell Tower, who were put into impossible situations. The report includes findings related to the response on the night and these will no doubt have implications for fire and rescue services across the UK. We will be properly and carefully considering the content of the report and will respond fully in due course. ‘UK fire and rescue services will
take every opportunity to reflect on the lessons identified in the report and turn these into lessons learned, and make any changes necessary to strengthen the fire and rescue service we provide to the public. However, fire and rescue services cannot be expected to fully mitigate fires that break out in buildings that are not built or maintained in accordance with the building regulations, or where the regulations themselves are inadequate.
‘Significant action must be
taken to improve the building and construction industry, regulations and address the broken system, identified by Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review. The failure of those responsible for these buildings to step up to their obligations is putting residents and firefighters at risk.’ The NFCC added that it
was ‘important to note’ that the stay put policy is a ‘principle of building design’, and not FRS policy, noting that it has ‘previously raised concerns that there has been no dedicated research into emergency evacuations of high-rise buildings’ when ‘unusual circumstances’ mean fire protection measures ‘fail catastrophically’ as at Grenfell. It pointed out that this is ‘especially relevant’ to buildings with single staircases and the ‘associated difficulties of evacuating an entire block’, though the NFCC believes it is ‘irresponsible to consider building strategy changes without properly funded and comprehensive
12 DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
www.frmjournal.com
research’ due to ‘considerable challenges which must be factored in’. Mr Wilsher had also recently written to the government to request funding, with the ‘indications’ being – from the NFCC perspective – that the government is ‘minded to support this’.
Fire Sector Federation (FSF) and BAFE The FSF stated that it was ‘relieved’ that the report had been released, as ‘by exposing weaknesses it reinforces the need to press harder in the task to make fire safety a priority across the built environment’. After what it termed a ‘decade of neglect in fire safety control’, the sector ‘must continue what has started into a decade of change to create new controls, competencies and systems that prevent anything like this happening again’. It ‘will take time and care to absorb all the findings’ of the report, but FSF members will ‘commit ourselves to do that to make our built environment a safer place’. The threat of fire ‘has always
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