Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry Finds U.K. Authorities and Firms at Fault
Sep 4, 2024
Grenfell Tower fire report blames flammable cladding and officials for the 2017 blaze that killed 72 people. Investigations continue.
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On Wednesday, a big report came out about the Grenfell Tower fire. This fire, which happened on June 14, 2017, was terrible. It killed 72 people and was the worst fire in a building in Britain since World War II.
The report, which is almost 1,700 pages long, says many groups are to blame. It points to the government, the building industry, and most of all, the companies that put dangerous cladding on the building. This cladding helped the fire spread quickly.
Who Is to Blame?
Grenfell Tower was covered in this cladding during a renovation in 2016. The cladding was made from a material that catches fire easily. This made the flames spread fast and made the fire worse.
[A copy of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report is shown to the media after its release in London on Wednesday. Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images]
The report says that the people who worked on the renovation—like the architect Studio E, the main contractor Rydon, and the cladding company Harley—are mostly to blame.
It also criticizes the fire safety inspectors Exova for not fixing the problems with the building after the renovation.
The local council, Kensington and Chelsea, and the Tenant Management Organization (TMO) were also blamed. They didn’t follow fire safety rules and focused too much on saving money. The council didn’t handle the fire well.
The companies that made and sold the cladding and insulation were also blamed. Companies like Celotex, Kingspan, and Arconic lied about how safe their products were. They tricked people by giving false information about their products.
Survivors and families of victims want those responsible to face justice. The police are looking into 58 people and 19 organizations. But it might take years before anyone is charged because the case is very complicated.
The fire started because of a problem with a refrigerator on the fourth floor. The flames spread quickly because of the cladding. The report says that no lessons were learned from past fires and that testing systems were not good enough.
The Grenfell Tower fire shocked the nation and made people think about building safety and how low-income communities are treated. The report’s findings have raised worries in Europe, where there have been similar fires.
In Britain, there are still 3,280 tall buildings with dangerous cladding. More than two-thirds of these buildings haven’t started fixing the problem. The Grenfell Tower fire is a big reminder that we need to make sure buildings are safe and that companies are honest.
