The Prime Minister has promised the truth about what happened at Grenfell Tower on that horrific, unspeakable June night in 2017 when 72 people perished.
This inconceivable horror happened despite repeated warnings that such an event was inevitable and WOULD happen at some point. And so it did.
This week, sadly, the reputation of the London Fire Brigade went up in flames too, with once-revered fire-fighters, dutiful men and women who charged into the blazing inferno prepared to put their lives in jeopardy in order to save others, now facing a barrage of criticism.
For doing what they thought was the right thing. Putting their lives, and their families’ futures on the line for the safety of strangers.
If any of my relatives had been involved on that unimaginable night, of course I’d sure as hell want retribution too. But the first place I’d look wouldn’t be to London fire chief Dany Cotton , nor to her staff, who heroically carried out their duties without thought for their own welfare, but to the crooks hiding behind invisible screens who must have known that the building was a tinderbox waiting to be ignited.
All 24 floors were filled with residents and their electrical goods, including a fridge-freezer with a fault.
(Image: Evening Standard / eyevine)
According to experts, fridge fires are nearly always caused by failure of an electric switch controlling the defrost/freeze function. That results in a small fire developing at the base on the back of the fridge, which quickly ignites the mainly polystyrene and plastic-based insulation materials around it.
So why are fridges prone to that fatal flaw still being manufactured? It’s not what happened on the night that matters the most now. It will always matter.
What we need right now are answers as to why the finger of blame is mainly being pointed at the public servants who laid their lives on the line for strangers, while that cladding wrapped the tower despite senior people knowing its propensity to inflammability.
It was “the principle reason for the fire’s rapid spread”.
Dany Cotton did her best in unprecedented circumstances. She’s taking the flak, while the combustible cladding remains to live another day and cause another fire. You really couldn’t make that up.
