Grenfell Tower residents 'should have had smoke masks in case of fire'

40 fire engines and 250 firefighters raced to the scene.
AFP/Getty Images
Mark Chandler15 June 2017

Grenfell Tower residents should have been given smoke masks to protect them in the event of a fire, a top architect has said.

A blaze ripped through the 24-storey Notting Hill block in the early hours of Wednesday morning, leaving many people trapped inside.

Despite the heroic efforts of fire crews and residents who escaped to safety through the pitch-black stairwells, police confirmed on Thursday morning at least 17 people had died.

Chris Roche of 11.04 Architects said questions needed to be raised about what precautions were in place at the building.

And he suggested residents in high rise blocks like Grenfell should be given masks as a matter of course in case a fire breaks out.

He told the Architects' Journal: “Did each flat have a fire extinguisher to provide a first line of defence in the event of a small electrical fire?

“The cost for the entire block of flats would be less than £4,000.”

He went on: “As smoke inhalation is one of the greatest threats to persons escaping residential fires, were occupants provided with smoke escape masks?

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures

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“A family of four could be provided with the mask below for less than £100 per flat - £15,000 for the entire block.

“It is incumbent on everyone involved in the design and procurement of residential apartment buildings to further examine ways of reducing the risk to occupants.”

The cause of the devastated blaze is still being investigated but attention has focussed on the cladding that was added to the 1970s block during a £8.7million restoration in 2015.

Residents have also complained that their concerns about fire safety at the tower block went unheeded.

Grenfell Action Group

Rydon, which carried out that project, insisted on Wednesday that all fire regulation health and safety standards had been met.

But Owen Luder, a former RIBA president said the disaster should never have happened.

He said: “The fire alarm system, that should be throughout at Grenfell Tower, should have given immediate warning of a fire in any individual flat.

“If that worked there would have been ample time for everyone to safely evacuate the building.

“That clearly did not seem to happen.”

“The key investigation will be how the fire which started in one flat (as that appears to be the case) spread so rapidly upwards without adequately warning the resident in their beds and enabling them to escape in safety,” Mr Luder said.

“It appears that the 1970s block was very recently renovated. That appears to have included new windows and cladding.

“There is always the risk, and there have been cases in the past, that the design of the replacement windows and the cladding did not provide the necessary fire checks to prevent fire spreading externally from one flat to the one above.

“However, the nature of this fire from what I have seen on TV that does not appear to be the case. Although I wouldn’t rule it out.”

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