Since the devastating fire in Grenfell Tower on Thursday morning, there has been a tremendous amount of support and love directed at the emergency services.
The fire service have received thousands of messages of support from the public as they risked their lives to help those inside the tower.
Although the praise was pouring in, there were many incorrect statements about their job and safety regulations on social media.
Dubbed the unsung heroes, the London firefighters worked relentlessly to tackle the blaze and rescue those trapped inside.
In order to try and stop the false information from spreading, a firefighter from London decided to make a start.
He took to the internet to do an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Reddit, and it literally spoke about everything from house safety to the whole rescuing cats from trees thing!
He addressed important issues such as safety in the home, cuts to the fire service and addressed why residents were told to stay put.
Known on Reddit as ‘Goonia’ his advice was as follows:
Check alarms, know your escape roots and know the surrounding roads if you’re in a block of flats so you can tell people which side you’re facing.
With regards to cuts and day to day operations, there are now less fire stations and fire engines in London.
Minimum numbers of crew allowed on certain engine’s has also been lowered from 5 to 4.
Goonia then spoke about why staying in your flat ‘is 99.9% of the time the safest thing to do’:
In a block of flats there is usually a stairwell that runs the height of the building so if there is a fire on the 5th floor, as soon as we open the door, the stairwell will fill with smoke and the unburnt fire gasses throughout the height of the building above the 5th floor.
If you were living on floors above the fire you would have to be breathing in the smoke and fumes whilst making your way down, hence your best choice being to stay in the flat and to cover the edges of doors with blankets etc and let the fore brigade know you’re in your property.
What appears to have happened yesterday is unique.
One Reddit user, known as ‘Supermunch2000’ asked what was going through his mind when the firefighter saw the blaze:
I was staggered when I woke up and saw the images – this isn’t a normal occurrence in London – sure you have fires in flats, but for a whole tower it’s unique.
My heart immediately dropped because I know people I work with and friends on other shifts were there – I was extremely concerned there would be a number of fatalities.
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Anyone concerned about a missing family member of friend is advised by police to call the Casualty Bureau on 0800 0961 233.
