Grenfell Tower fire in London: ‘avoidable’ tragedy after ‘decades of neglect’

The British central government and local councils, construction companies and the fire service were the focus of criticism in the devastating final report published on Wednesday on the fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which caused 72 deaths June 14, 2017.

Presenting his findings after a seven-year investigation, former judge Martin Moore-Bick said: The catastrophe was “the culmination of decades of neglect” of authorities and the private sector in addressing the risks of using combustible materials in construction.

According to the 1,700-page document, the London fire service at the time lacked the necessary training and strategy to deal with a fire in a 24-story building, which It started when a refrigerator burned down in the room and spread rapidly along the facade.

Apology on behalf of the State

In a parliamentary statement, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmerapologized to the victims on behalf of the State and promised to veto firms deemed responsible from future contracts with the public administration.

Like Moore-Bick, he stressed that the tragedy was avoidable and admitted that the country failed “before, during and after” of the event to the residents of Grenfell, many of whom were council tenants.

Starmer has pledged to respond within six months to the former judge’s 58 recommendations and called on police to speed up their review of the case so that offenders can be brought to justice.

The mayor of London, his coreligionist Sadiq Khan – who took office in 2016 – also stressed that the survivors have demonstrated during these years “an unrelenting strength, dignity and courage in their fight to obtain justice.”

“The perpetrators must be held accountable immediately “for its systematic dishonesty, corporate greed, institutional indifference and negligence,” it said in a statement.

A new regulator

Moore-Bick, who heard Some 1,600 testimonies in more than 300 hearings where 320,000 documents were analyzed, he said that The fire was due to institutional negligence and “systematic dishonesty” of companies that manufactured and sold the coatings that helped spread the flames.

The former judge of the Court of Appeal reported that there was a “deliberate and sustained manipulation“fire controls, with a biased interpretation of the data and deception of the market by firms such as Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan.

Moore-Bick regretted that the authorities and the construction sector “they failed badly” to the neighbours of the 129-apartment building in West London – now covered over to hide its charred skeleton – who made the fire possible with their “incompetence, dishonesty and greed“.

As main recommendations, he proposed the creation of a single regulator for construction, dependent on a ministry that oversees it, concluding that the management of building safety in the jurisdiction of England and Wales is “seriously flawed, complex and fragmented.”

He also advocated the creation of a Fire and Rescue College to improve the training of professionals, as well as the techniques to examine the suitability of materials.

Following the publication of the report, London’s Metropolitan Police will review its contents over the next 18 months to determine whether any crimes were committed that could be brought to justice, while victims and their families are urging those responsible to be punished.