LONDON FIRE

[RailGooner]

For me the real heroes in this horrific disaster are the emergency services. Time and time again they went into a building that should never have burnt like it did and what they must have witnessed beggars description.

Hear, hear! And, they'll turn up for work again the next day ready to face the same or worse. Hearing an off-duty nurse responding to the question "why did you run toward the burning tower?" reply "because that's my job" says so much of the character of these people. I'd say not only was it not her job, she wasn't on-duty! Don't think I could be so selfless.

We need a salute emoji.

[The Q]

Having been invlved with the first firemans strike and been on the Fire teams on the RAF stations I served, (even though I was a radar technician) It becomes ingrained to you to run towards the fire.
I got told off by the Fire service when the alarms went off At a Unversity I was attending a course at, because I ran towards and not away from the fire.

[RailGooner]

Having been invlved with the first firemans strike and been on the Fire teams on the RAF stations I served, (even though I was a radar technician) It becomes ingrained to you to run towards the fire.
I got told off by the Fire service when the alarms went off At a Unversity I was attending a course at, because I ran towards and not away from the fire.

I know what you mean Q. I did a stint on Green Goddesses in the early 80s strike. We had 2 Forces Firemen on each crew. They were the only ones allowed to enter a burning building though, the rest of us just manned pumps, rigged ladders, etc.

Now if a disaster occurred in front of me today, I'd like to think that I'd instinctively go to lend assistance. But, thankfully, I've never really been tested. Our Emergency Services are tested daily, and always pass with flying colours. They are a special breed.

[Snowwolflair]

I'm astounded that the experts seem to think aluminium is fireproof.

Quite the contrary, once it starts to burn there is no stopping it as the navy found out with HMS Sheffield during the Falklands.

[Nick]

Quite the contrary, once it starts to burn there is no stopping it as the navy found out with HMS Sheffield during the Falklands.

I believe that this is an urban myth, and that, in common with all Type 42 destroyers, Sheffield's hull and superstructure were steel.

[Newportnobby]

One thing I've heard nothing about is the structural state of the block. On the news tonight the emergency services stated they can't even get into some of the flats without shoring them up and that it will take months to find all the victims, let alone identify them. I just hope no one is in any danger of it collapsing

[pape_timmo]

Massive respect and support to the emergency services, and such sadness and support to all those involved.

How could this happen? And I hope the responsible people are help to account for this.

Deepest sympathy to all.

[dannyboy]

Quite the contrary, once it starts to burn there is no stopping it as the navy found out with HMS Sheffield during the Falklands.

I believe that this is an urban myth, and that, in common with all Type 42 destroyers, Sheffield's hull and superstructure were steel.

I had heard about the aluminium theory but the following, from 'Wikipeadia', seems to refute this -

"The sinking of Sheffield is sometimes blamed on a superstructure made wholly or partially from aluminium, the melting point and ignition temperature of which are significantly lower than those of steel. However, this is incorrect as Sheffield's superstructure was made entirely of steel.  The confusion is related to the US and British Navies abandoning aluminium after several fires in the 1970s involving ships that had aluminium superstructures".

[Snowwolflair]

Quite the contrary, once it starts to burn there is no stopping it as the navy found out with HMS Sheffield during the Falklands.

I believe that this is an urban myth, and that, in common with all Type 42 destroyers, Sheffield's hull and superstructure were steel.

I had heard about the aluminium theory but the following, from 'Wikipeadia', seems to refute this -

"The sinking of Sheffield is sometimes blamed on a superstructure made wholly or partially from aluminium, the melting point and ignition temperature of which are significantly lower than those of steel. However, this is incorrect as Sheffield's superstructure was made entirely of steel.  The confusion is related to the US and British Navies abandoning aluminium after several fires in the 1970s involving ships that had aluminium superstructures".

It is not an urban myth. They were skinned with steel but the bulk of the in innerds was aluminium to reduce the topside weight.   Also all of the gas turbine venting where she was hit was alloy.

[javlinfaw7]

Hopefully  safety be examined now on all high rise buildings but you wonder why it has to take a tragic event like this to highlight short comings. My heart goes out to those involved  residents , relatives and emergency services

[RailGooner]

We shouldn't lose sight of the thread title and spirit.

[Webbo]

Hopefully  safety be examined now on all high rise buildings but you wonder why it has to take a tragic event like this to highlight short comings. My heart goes out to those involved  residents , relatives and emergency services

Something like this happened to an apartment building in Melbourne in 2014. Subsequently, combustible cladding was held largely responsible for the rapid spread of the fire up the side of the building. Although the damage was extensive, no one was hurt which explains why the priority to replace this stuff has been only moderate in Oz till now. I expect that this priority level will suddenly increase after this London disaster. It seems that cladding is in the spotlight at the moment for the London fire, but the coroner's report will tell us what really happened.

I too admire the bravery of the emergency services workers in these situations. The 9/11 World Trade Center collapses have told us how truly dangerous burning towers can be not just to their residents, but also to the firefighters attending.

Webbo

[The Q]

Seeing the photos of the Fire teams lying flaked out shows how knackering it is firefighting in Full Fireproof kit, Climbing up to 27 floors of stairs with full Breathing Apparatus in the heat and smoke must be incredibly worse.

The most I did was 8 floors, of a burning flour mill, we were allowed in buildings that were burning, providing we didn't need BA. (i.e. Small fires or reinforced stairwells with steel fire doors like the mill.)

We were all normal RAF servicemen in our Goddesses, the BA team was from the Royal Navy who had their own Landrover, and who went out with whichever Goddess needed them.

[Mr Sprue]

A very tragic event indeed.....These past couple of months have been cursed by fatalities of many innocent people!

Is there really a God?

[Hailstone]

It would appear that more money was spent making it look good than making it safe to live in, with the possibility of either the housing association or the contractor cutting corners on the quality of the materials used. I believe that they would have been better advised to have spent the money on a sprinkler system and upgrading the electrics.
once again lives have been lost to save money. my condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives unnecessarily.

Regards,

Alex