Residents of Grenfell Tower, which was engulfed in flames this morning, made a chillingly accurate complaint about fire safety in the building just a few months ago.
A group called the Grenfell Action Group repeatedly criticised the company that manages the tower block, Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), on their fire safety record in a series of blog posts.
The group made frequent complaints about rubbish blocking exits and in November last year one member wrote that it would take a ‘catastrophic event’ to expose the issues residents had.
They said:
It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders.
The Grenfell Action Group believe that the KCTMO narrowly averted a major fire disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2013 when residents experienced a period of terrifying power surges that were subsequently found to have been caused by faulty wiring.
We have blogged many times on the subject of fire safety at Grenfell Tower and we believe that these investigations will become part of damning evidence of the poor safety record of the KCTMO should a fire affect any other of their properties and cause the loss of life that we are predicting.
The Grenfell Action Group posted this morning that all of their warnings had fallen on deaf ears and that they’d predicted a catastrophe like this was inevitable.
200 firefighters and 40 fire engines were dispatched to Grenfell Tower in North Kensington early this morning to tackle the blaze.
Unfortunately both police and the London fire commissioner have both confirmed that there have been a number of fatalities although they could not state exact numbers due to the complexity of the building.
Thirty people have already been taken to five hospitals across the city.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.