Is the London fire department equipped to fight a high rise fire?

[Renew Deal]

It sure didn't seem so that night. I didn't see any ladder trucks raised. I don't know if they entered the building at all. They didn't seem to identify the cladding as the problem. Do they have the tools they need?

[tonyt53]

1. Ya know, my friend that is a county fire chief here said the same thing.

The panning and zoning people need to know where the fire protection stands in regards to a higher building. If the FD can't adequately fight the fire because of equipment constraints, then do not allow a building that goes beyond their limits to be built. A sprinkler system isn't enough by any means.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Looked like a combination of that...and of a dangerously unsafe building.

From the few vids I saw of it, it looked like the building had now preventive measures and was clad in some kind of flammable materials.

As I understand it, there were numerous complaints of unsafe conditions that were not corrected before the fire.

[procon]

3. I saw one ladder truck that was shooting a stream of water up at the building.

It was on video and the ladder didn't extend more than maybe to the 4th floor. I remember wondering at the time if ladder trucks were even capable of extending high enough to reach the upper floors and thinking the intensity of the heat still would have killed people trying to get down. Its a horrible tragedy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Yes, they did enter the building; residents said so

They made it up inside to the 10th floor, at least: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4614248/Firefighter-s-harrowing-account-inside-Grenfell-Tower.html

and that's also about as high as they could raise a hose, I think - see the pictures stamped after 4:20am at that link.

[Blue_Tires]

5. Either way, there were obviously multiple passive and active

fire protections that didn't work as they should have, or didn't work at all...

No way should that fire ever have spread that far that fast...

[Renew Deal]

6. Buildings like that usually have an isolated escape stairwell

Was one in place? Was it full of smoke? Did the AC system do what it was supposed to?

[WinkyDink]

7. At least the Grenfell didn't collapse.