Naturally Unnatural Issue #8 17th June 2017 | Page 3

Issue #8 17th June 2017
Grenfell Tower fire: A
political discussion
is necessary
By Matthew Clifton
Grenfell Tower fire was a horrific inci-
dent and so far, there are lots of reports
and figures flying about. But with in-
vestigations still ongoing, it is wise to
keep an open mind regarding what
happened that night. Irrespective of
the results of the investigations, there
are a serious number of questions
raised from the incident. There have
been 17 confirmed deaths with consid-
erable rise in the death toll expected.
bishment of the building where it was
covered in aluminium panels and the firm
have since claimed that the refurbish-
ments met fire safety standards. Howev-
er, residents have claimed that the alu-
minium cladding contributed to the
speed that the fire consumed the building
Firstly, what caused the fire? To be ex-
in. The refurbishments have also been
pected the exact cause is unknown but
there are reports that it was an exploding met with derision by those within the
fridge on the fourth floor, whether this is community, with Grime artist, poet and
true or not being yet to be confirmed. But political campaigner, Akala, saying the
refurb was purely for aesthetic reasons
what we do know is that there were is-
for the nearby highly affluent areas. It has
sues raised about fire safety by the resi-
dent’s years ago. Why were their voices also emerged that the cladding used has
not heard? Gavin Barwell, who was hous- links to fires of buildings in the UAE,
France and Australia.
ing minister, sat on a report about fire
safety and ignored the suggestions within The Conservative government’s
the report.
measures over the last 7 years with cuts
There are a lot of people saying that
‘political cheap shots’ are unnecessary.
However, incidents that could have been
avoided through government actions that
lead to the loss of life, is not cheap.
Plus, that role of housing minister had a
high turnover of MPs as minister, which
means there would be no coherent plan
as priorities change minister to minister.
This is another story of the Conservatives
acting against the civil service rather than
with them. There was also a housing bill
that was stopped by 72 MPs from passing
through parliament, the bill in question
was a regulation of living standards,
meaning rental property had to fit for hu-
man habitation.
Recently, there was a £8.6million refur-
and austerity have contributed to the
deaths. Their cuts have deeply affected
the organisations and local authorities
that would have made it easier to prevent
an incident such as this. With 17 deaths
confirmed by the police so far, with more
expected there is direct consequences to
the government’s actions and inaction.
There have also been reports circling
social media, from those who work within
the London Fire Brigade that the death
toll is close to 150, with a significant por-
tion being children.
3
People who survived the fire say that they
never heard the fire alarms and some
even said that the first sounds they heard,
were the fire services. There were no
sprinklers in the building and the appar-
ent fire proofed bathrooms, were lacking
in fire proofing. The building hadn’t been
kept to the required standards and the
buildings safety standards were still rem-
iniscent of the 1970s. People have even
claimed that it was started on purpose by
the government to sell off to private de-
velopers. The claim itself is unlikely but it
highlights that people are sick of the cur-
rent political class in power.
The blame can be placed firmly on the
government and the local authorities,
they didn’t react and do what is neces-
sary. There are also accusations of gentri-
fication of the area, plans to force those
less well-off out of the area and sell the
land to develop housing for wealthier
people. Either way, the latest estimates
suggest that sprinklers and improved fire
alarms would’ve cost approximately be-
tween £100,000 to £300,000. The compa-
ny who refurbished the exterior made
£4.4 million in profit. Any complaints at
political cheap shots is misguided. This is
the consequence of political actions and
inaction, to say otherwise is burying your
head in the sand. These are not cheap
shots because the value of the lives of
other people is not cheap.