The final report on the Grenfell Tower fire criticizes firefighting leadership strategies, government and construction industry
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A public inquiry into the tragic 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, which claimed 72 lives, attributed the disastrous fire mostly to failures by the government, the construction industry, and, most significantly, the companies responsible for installing the flammable cladding on the building's exterior.
The Inquiry report also criticizes the London Fire Brigade for a lack of leadership, strategies and for an attitude of complacency. However, the main focus of criticism in the report is on businesses and public institutions other than the fire services.
The fire, which started in the early hours of June 14, 2017, engulfed the 23-storey social housing block in one of London's wealthiest neighbourhoods. It was reportedly the deadliest residential building fire in Britain since World War II.
In a summary by Reuters on September 4, the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire is described as being blamed, in the report, on the UK government, the construction industry, and private firms involved in the construction of the apartment building.
According to the article, all the deaths were avoidable, the inquiry chair says:
"The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable," said inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick.
"Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, but as our reports show, all contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases, through incompetence, but in some cases, through dishonesty and greed," Moore-Bick said further.
READ THE FINAL GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY REPORT
Or download the PDF attached above
The inquiry report, spanning nearly 1,700 pages, concluded that the disastrous fire was the result of "decades of failure," where profits were prioritized over people's safety.
The BBC wrote "Manufacturers of the cladding engaged in "systematic dishonesty", chairman said, also accusing them of misleading customers about their safety.
According to the BBC, the London Fire Brigade is also harshly judged in the report: "There was a "chronic lack" of leadership at the London Fire Brigade, including too much emphasis on process and an "attitude of complacency".
AlJazeera wrote that the final report stated that decades of failure by United Kingdom governments, indifference to safety by authorities, dishonest and incompetent manufacturers and installers of building materials, and a lack of strategy by firefighters were the main contributors to the high death toll.
The Guardian wrote that the inquiry found that the government was “well aware” of the risks posed by highly flammable cladding “but failed to act on what it knew”.
In the Page 42 Summary of the report, we can read a section delivering an analysis if the perceived shortcomings of the London Fire Brigade which may have contributed to the high death toll.
Among things, it mentions an "insular attitude" and "unwillingness to learn from others".
"Our criticisms of the London Fire Brigade have been directed mainly to its failure to integrate the control room into the organisation effectively, its failure to ensure that adequate training was provided to control room staff in handling fire survival guidance calls and its failure to implement lessons learnt from previous incidents. In one way or another those are all criticisms of the organisation and management of the brigade, which in our view needs to become more streamlined and less bureaucratic."
"Although the LFB is the country’s largest fire and rescue service and is subject to a range of demands not imposed on similar services, it has tended to adopt an insular approach and to be reluctant to learn from others. No doubt some of the criticisms we have made of the LFB could be made of other fire and rescue services, but in any event we think that there is scope for all fire and rescue services to learn from each other’s experience and thereby to promote best practice across the board, whether in relation to recruitment, training, organisation or management."
Photo: (Below) A 2023 demonstration for the compensation of firefighters injured in the Grenfell fire. Photo by FBU
