LONDON
\nThe UK\u2019s Grenfell Tower fire disaster that killed 72 people was the result of \u201cdecades of failure\u201d by government and construction industry bodies and the \u201csystematic dishonesty\u201d of building material firms, a final report said Wednesday.
\nUnveiling the damning findings of an independent probe into the 2017 tragedy, inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said the deaths were \u201call avoidable\u201d and the victims had been \u201cbadly failed\u201d.
\nSome of those who played a part in sowing the seeds of the disaster had shown \u201cincompetence\u201d, as well as \u201cdishonesty and greed\u201d, he said.
\nThe fire in the early hours of June 14, 2017, spread rapidly through the 24-storey block in west London due to highly combustible cladding fixed to the exterior.
\nStarting in a faulty freezer on the fourth floor, the blaze took barely half an hour to climb to the building\u2019s top floor with catastrophic consequences.
\nThe report marks the end of the long-running inquiry into Britain\u2019s worst residential fire since World War II.
\nIt makes scathing criticism of successive governments and other influential bodies, as well as architects, over a refurbishment of Grenfell that led to the cladding and other dangerous materials being installed.
\nIn particular, the report condemns firms involved in the supply of rainscreen cladding panels and other insulation products.
\nAccusing them of \u201csystematic dishonesty\u201d, it said they \u201cengaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market\u201d.
\n\u2018Crooks and killers\u2019
\nFollowing the release of the report Grenfell United, which represents some of the survivors and victims, called on government to act urgently.
\n\u201cThe government must now exert control over the sector to prevent further dismantling of public safety, which used to be their main job, not aiding and abetting crooks and killers.\u201d
\nPrime Minister Keir Starmer pledged that his government would \u201ccarefully consider the report and its recommendations, to ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again\u201d.
\n\u201cThe country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty: to protect you and your loved ones\u2026 And I am deeply sorry,\u201d Starmer said in a statement to parliament after a critical final report on the disaster was released.
\nLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan said the Grenfell residents had \u201cpaid a price for systemic dishonesty, corporate greed, and institutional indifference and neglect\u201d.
\nThe London Fire Brigade (LFB) also comes in for heavy criticism with senior officers described as \u201ccomplacent\u201d.
\nThe service failed to ensure that the danger posed by the increasing use of cladding \u201cwas shared with the wider organisation and reflected in training\u201d, it said.
\nIt also failed to learn the lessons of a previous fire in 2009 which \u201cshould have alerted the LFB to the shortcomings in its ability to fight fires in high-rise buildings\u201d.
\nResidents who phoned the emergency services were told to remain in their flats and await rescue for nearly two hours after the fire broke out.
\nMen, women, and children, including whole family groups, were trapped in their own homes and perished. That \u201cstay-put\u201d advice, now considered to have cost lives, has since been revised.
\nThe tragedy\u2019s youngest victims were a stillborn child and a six-month-old baby, Leena Belkadi, found with her mother in a stairwell between the 19th and 20th floors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON The UK\u2019s Grenfell Tower fire disaster that killed 72 people was the result of \u201cdecades of failure\u201d by government and construction industry bodies and the \u201csystematic dishonesty\u201d of building material firms, a final report said Wednesday. Unveiling the damning findings of an independent probe into the 2017 tragedy, inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-429193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n