Comments by "" (@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684) on "OMG Stories"
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The WHOLE strategy of fire protection in high rise buildings is one based on "compartmentation and containment", pre installed firefighting equipment namely what are called "wet" or "Dry" "Risers" to get firefighting water quickly to the scene of the fire, together with fire and smoke protected "means of escape", this complete strategy was finally enshrined in law in the 1970s after several fatal fires in high rise buildings in the UK in the 50s, 60s & 70s.
Each and every flat built in the UK from the 1960s onwards had fireproof reinforced concrete boundary walls and floors/ceilings. Window frames were originally steel, there were fireprotected stairways/landings aka "means of escape", and there was to be NO uncertified comprimise of the structural compartmentation between adjacent flats. That meant if an individual flat was involved in a fire it would NOT spread sideways or downwards, with only a possible small secondary involvement of the single flat immediately above at most. The resident affected by the fire would obviously evacuate, while all the rest of the block's residents were to safely stay in their flats. A system which worked on COUNTLESS occasions during my own 30 years of service in the UK Fire Brigade many many years ago.
ALL of this fire safety planning was protected by UK law and building regulations, and enforced by the HIGHLY trained and experienced Fire Safety officers of the individual county Fire Brigades.
Fast forward to the early 1990s when the UK fire safety regulation & enforcement powers were REMOVED by the govt from the British fire services, and placed into the hands of clueless local councils. This was followed by the "deregulation" of fire safety in public buildings with many of the carefully thought out rules quietly ignored, as they were a "hinderance" to private businesses.... "Deregulation to reduce "troublesome red tape" & streamline the business environment" as it was euphemistically described. but known to the rest of us as "cutting corners on safety".
The Fire Brigades Union and firemen were crying out about this thoughout the 1990s and onwards, but the corporate media ensured that it was NOT brought to the wider public attention.
From then on, UPVC windows were fitted into high rise buildings which deform in heat and allow the entry of flames and smoke from external fire sources, MANY unregulated holes were drilled through solid reinforced concrete walls and floors to allow the installation of new electrical wiring/phone cabling/central heating systems. External cladding that had NOT been properly tested for combustibility, and which in some cases chemically resembled "rocket fuel" was fitted to the outside of many blocks. Such cladding could cynically be described as "polishing turds with rocket fuel".
ALL of which was largely unregulated and went unreported.
Then at Grenfell, Much the same happened as with people who don't bother with "insurance" get caught out. All went well until someone has a fire and all the wrong factors line up and then "all of a sudden" the long enforced sound & logical structural methods of fire control and safety via compartmentation and containment are suddenly not there anymore..... and LOTS of people then die.
The clueless fire service management was also TOO slow to realise that the whole original system of fire compartmentation had been comprimised and was so and spineless that NO-ONE was prepared to order the full evacuation of residents because of the alternate known risks that that action entails.
So in short OUR politicians both nationally AND locally completely undermined public safety legislation that was laid down many years ago for ALL of our protection, and they undermined that legislation for the benefit of their CORPORATE financiers.
So once again the powerful shaft the poor to enrich the powerful..... then blame it on the poor victims.
And you lot STILL vote for "the major political parties"?
You all need to wake up to how they all REALLY see us.
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