How many have died
The fire claimed over 70 lives and with
more people still missing, Metropolitan
Police Commander Stuart Cundy has since
said there is " a risk that sadly we may not
be able to identify everybody."
Of course, sufficient evidence must be
gathered before the final numbers are
released. Only more slowly will we come to
find that the Grenfell fire disaster claimed
more lives than Hillsborough, more lives
than Manchester, in fact more lives than
any terrorist attack since.
How this could have been
prevented
Not much is actually known about what
caused the fire in the first place but
residents had previously complained about
the "cheap material and corner cutting"
in the block's refurbishment last summer.
The Grenfell Action Group went on to say
in a blog post that this was a "catastrophe"
waiting to happen.
According to an article on the Guardian,
in the 1990's the home office received
a "damning report" by architect Sam
Webb, following his survey of hundreds of
residential tower blocks. His study found
that half of the buildings he inspected did
not meet basic fire & safety regulations.
Why the government is
responsible
To make matters worse in 2015
Conservative MP's voted against a new
'Housing and Planning Bill' which proposed
a new rule that would have required
landlords to make their buildings "fit for
8
ISSUE 100 / 2017
GUESTLIST
On June the 14th in North Kensington, 45 fire engines
and more than 200 firefighters tackled a blaze that had
spread unexpectedly fast throughout Grenfell Tower, a
24 storey building. One mother of six only realised two
of her children were missing once she got to the ground.
Eyewitnesses also remember watching a mother throwing
her baby out of the building on the 10th floor as the fire
intensified, thankfully the baby was caught by a man
below.
GRENFELL TOWER FIRE:
DOES THE GOVERNMENT
HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR
HANDS
FEATURE