Grenfell Tower Memorial

 

 

Around 1,500 people including, bereaved family and survivors of the deadly Grenfell Tower fire gathered at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London for a memorial service, along with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and the royal family.   The fire killed 71 people when it swept through a poorly built public housing tower and was the worst fire in Britain since World War II.  The memorial ceremony lasted just over an hour and at the end of the service, a Grenfell banner was carried out of the cathedral, followed by mourners, who held white roses and photographs of their loved ones.

Of the 293 people believed to be in the 27 story building, 222 escaped; 65 of those survivors were rescued by firefighters.  Some residents appear to have moved up the building to escape the flames, only to become trapped in the apartments of friends and neighbours on the upper floors. Twenty one people died on the top floor of the tower block and the fire to raged for 60 hours before finally being contained.

Two days after the disaster, the Prime Minister promised families would be rehoused within three weeks.  Six months after the fire, according to a report published by the government, of the 395 households displaced by the fire, 300 were living in hotels, 75 were in apartments, nine were living with friends and family on a temporary basis and only 11 had found new permanent accommodation by the end of September.

Maxine Holdsworth, the official responsible for rehousing the people who lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire says Theresa May made and unachievable commitment in the aftermath of the fire.  The current promise is that everyone will be rehoused within a year.  The number of staff working on rehousing Grenfell tenants has increased since the summer from five to 20.   They have been given a budget of $235 million to replace the homes lost in the tower. They are currently in the process of buying 300 new homes, at a rate of two a day, and hope to have done that by Christmas.

A review of building regulations ordered after the Grenfell Tower fire found the system is “not fit for purpose” and open to abuse by those trying to save money.  The report into building safety called for an overhaul of the construction industry to put safety above cutting costs.  The report called for an end to cost-cutting on materials. It is suspected that an attempt to drive down the price of refurbishing the tower in west London led to cheaper, flammable material being installed on its exterior.

The tower was built in 1974 but was remodeled in 2016.  Fire safety experts have pointed to cladding on the building as a possible reason the blaze spread so quickly.  New cladding was fitted as part of the refurbishment of the tower in May of last year.  Footage has shown the fire travelling up one side of the building, before engulfing the entire block.