U.K. report on deadly Grenfell highrise fire slams unscrupulous companies, complacent government - Action News
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U.K. report on deadly Grenfell highrise fire slams unscrupulous companies, complacent government

A damning report on a deadly 2017 London highrise fire said on Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a "death trap" where 72 people lost their lives.

72 victims and their families were 'badly failed' by many people and organizations, inquiry concludes

In the foreground, people on a subway platform are shown as a train sits on the tracks. In the distance, a high-rise residential building is shown.
A person walks along a London Underground station platform as the covered remains of Grenfell Tower, and its message, are seen nearby on Wednesday. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

A damning report on a deadly London highrise fire said on Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a "death trap" where 72 people lost their lives.

The years-long public inquiry into the 2017 blaze concludedthere was no "single cause" of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government turned a small apartment fire into the deadliest blaze on British soil since the Second World War.

The inquiry's head, retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, said the victims' deaths were all avoidable, and "those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years" by multiple people and organizations.

While the report may give survivors some of the answers they have long sought, they face a wait to see whether anyone responsible will be prosecuted. Police will examine the inquiry's conclusions before deciding on charges.

WATCH l Resident who survived blaze calls on government to act on recommendations:

'We paid the price' of institutional failures, Grenfell Tower fire survivor says

1 month ago
Duration 1:00
Natasha Elcock, a survivor of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, says a report examining what happened in the deadly apartment fire speaks to 'the lack of competence, understanding and fundamental failure to perform the most basic duties of care.'

The fire broke out in the early hours of June 14, 2017, in a fourth-floor apartment and spread up the 25-storey building like a lit fuse, fuelled by flammable cladding panels on the tower's exterior walls.

"How was it possible in 21st-century London for a reinforced concrete building, itself structurally impervious to fire, to be turned into a death trap?" asked the report. It concluded: "There is no simple answer to that question."

Criminal charges unclear

Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, died in the fire, said that "for me, there's no justice without people going behind bars."

"Our lives were shattered on that night. People need to be held accountable," she said. "People who have made decisions putting profit above people's safety need to be behind bars."

Police are investigating dozens of individuals and companies and are considering charges, including corporate and individual manslaughter. But they say any prosecutions are unlikely to come before late 2026.

WATCH l British PM Starmer apologizes to families in Parliament:

Grenfell Tower fire 'should never have happened,' U.K. PM says

1 month ago
Duration 1:08
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized on Wednesday to survivors and families impacted by the deadly 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower, saying 'the country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty to protect you and your loved ones.'

"I can't pretend to imagine the impact of such a long police investigation on the bereaved and survivors, but we have one chance to get our investigation right," said deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police.

Built from concrete in the 1970s, Grenfell Towerhad been covered during a refurbishment in the years before the fire with aluminum and polyethylene cladding a layer of foam insulation topped by two sheets of aluminum sandwiched around a layer of polyethylene, a combustible plastic polymer that melts and drips when exposedto heat.

The report was highly critical of companies that made the building's cladding. It said they engaged in "systematic dishonesty," manipulating safety tests and misrepresenting the results to claim the material was safe.

It said insulation manufacturer Celotex was unscrupulous, and another insulation firm, Kingspan, "cynically exploited the industry's lack of detailed knowledge." It said cladding panel maker Arconic "concealed from the market the true extent of the danger."

The combustible cladding was used on the building because it was cheap and because of the "incompetence of the organizations and individuals involved in the refurbishment" including architects, engineers and contractors all of whom thought safety was someone else's responsibility, the report said.

A dark-complected woman holds a piece of paper while speaking in front of a bank of microphones. Several other people, men and women, surround her.
Natasha Elcock, a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire, speaks to the media on behalf of relatives of the deceased and people directly affected by the fire, following the final report into the fire being released in London on Wednesday. (Frank Augstein/The Associated Press)

The inquiry concluded the failures multiplied because bodies in charge of enforcing Britain's building standards were weak, the local authority was uninterested and the "complacent" Conservative-led U.K. government ignored safety warnings because of a commitment to deregulation.

"The recommendations published today are basic safety principles that should already exist, highlighting how the government's roles, duties and obligations have been hollowed out by privatization," Grenfell United, an advocacy group formed by victim relatives, said in a statement.

Initial report highlighted fire response failures

The inquiry has held more than 300 public hearings and examined around 1,600 witness statements. An initial report published in 2019criticized the fire department for telling residents to stay in their apartments and await rescue. The advice was changed almost two hours after the fire broke out, too late for many on the upper floors to escape.

London Fire Brigade came in for further criticism for a "chronic lack of effective management and leadership." The report said firefighters were not adequately trained to deal with a highrise fire and were issued old communications equipment that didn't work properly.

Several floors of a residential high-rise building are shown blackened from fire and hollowed out.
A general view shows the Grenfell Tower on July 15, 2017. (Tolga Akmen/Reuters)

Grenfell was a public housing building set in one of London's richest neighbourhoods a stone's throw from the pricey boutiques and elegant houses of Notting Hill and many victims were working-class people with immigrant roots.

The victims came from 23 countries and included taxi drivers and architects, a poet, an acclaimed young artist, retirees and 18 children. But, per the report, the inquiry had "seen no evidence that any of the decisions that resulted in the creation of a dangerous building or the calamitous spread of fire were affected by racial or social prejudice."

In the wake of the fire, the U.K. government banned metal composite cladding panels for all new buildings and ordered similar combustible cladding to be removed from hundreds of tower blocks across the country. But it's an expensive job and the work hasn't been carried out on some apartment buildings because of wrangling over who should pay.

The report made multiple recommendations, including tougher fire safety rules, a national fire and rescue college and a single independent regulator for the construction industry to replace the current mishmash of agencies.

The ruined tower, which stood for months after the fire like a black tombstone on the west London skyline, still stands, now covered in white sheeting. A green heart and the words "Grenfell forever in our hearts" are emblazoned at the top.