Background
On 14 June 2017, a high rise fire broke out at Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey residential block of flats in North Kensington, West London. The fire burned for 60 hours and sadly 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 people injured and a further 223 people escaping. It has been described as the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since World War II.
The fire was started by an electrical fault in a fridge on the fourth floor but spread so rapidly due to the external cladding on the building being made of dangerously combustible material.
This fire could and should have been avoided but it was not as the victims were let down by totally inadequate laws and regulations. This meant developers were able to use materials that were not fit for purpose and were therefore extremely dangerous; Effectively, Grenfell was a disaster waiting to happen.
Since the fire, Dean has campaigned alongside his colleagues at LBC for:
- the laws and regulations to change;
- for the developers to be held accountable; and
- for dangerous cladding and materials to be removed from all tower blocks across the UK and replaced with safe alternatives at NO COST to the leaseholders.
