All have no doubt heard of the horrific high rise fire in London.

Today, the Daily Mail wrote a piece claiming it was started by a faulty refrigerator in a fourth floor flat. The owner raised the alarm, likely saving many, but the fire went up the inside, then the outside of the building in during under 15 minutes. He survived, but I cannot begin to fathom how he feels.

The other issue is there was only a single stairway for emergency egress, and once it was engulfed, residents had no viable means of escape.

I am posting this not to debate the events leading up to the fire or during the fire, but to remind all of us to go a few simple things that might save you in a disaster.

1. Have a plan. One for your family, one for work. Know the egress routes from buildings, and to get you home or to an alternate rally point. Know at least two ways out of any building you enter and two routes to every assigned rally point. Mobile phones may not work, so ensure that everyone knows exactly what to do.

2. Practice that plan regularly. Mr. Rick Rescorla may have saved the lives of hundreds if not thousands in the South Tower, 2 World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001. He concluded that employees of Morgan Stanley, which was the largest tenant in the World Trade Center, could not rely on first responders in an emergency, and needed to empower themselves through surprise fire drills, in which he trained employees to meet in the hallway between stairwells and go down the stairs, two by two. Rescorla's strict approach to these drills pissed people off, but he was right in that these rehearsals were necessary to train the employees in the event of an actual emergency. If its a place you go frequently, practice the egress plan, even if it means occasionally hiking down 100 floors in a stairwell.

3. Have a working flashlight handy. A working flashlight is necessary to illuminate the egress route in the event of darkness or smoke.

4. Have a working fire extinguisher. What prompted me writing this was my checking my fire extinguishers and discovering ALL, as in EVERY DAMNED ONE OF THE THREE IN MY HOUSE, are all years beyond their expiration date.

5. Have a first aid kit and/or bug out bag handy. This may help you save yourself, or another. I just took a Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) course, and learned that much has changed since I was a paramedic riding a triceratops. Take a class and get the basic kit that is recommended. The life you save might be your own.

Others, feel free to add to this list.

If you lived in one of those places, a couple hundred feet of climbing rope stashed in the closet might be a good idea too.

years ago when staying with my relatives at CFB Stadacona in Halifax, the residence was surrounded by a moat, and the bedrooms had escape ropes about 1-1/" in diameter rolled up on the floor - they were already knotted every three feet to help the climb down - it had a huge anchor in the floor

I don't recall ever having tried it out just for giggles

I've considered from time to time putting together a couple of emergency rappel kits (rope, descenders, emergency harness in a bag) for hotel stays - particularly above the 3rd floor (which I understand to be the reach of most ladder trucks).

-Rob

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I've considered from time to time putting together a couple of emergency rappel kits (rope, descenders, emergency harness in a bag) for hotel stays - particularly above the 3rd floor (which I understand to be the reach of most ladder trucks).

-Rob[/QUOTE

Ground ladders from a ladder truck can typically reach the third floor and if a 45 foot Bangor ladder is carried (which is increasingly rare) the 4th floor can be reached.

Depending on setback etc ladder trucks (aerials) can reach at least the 7th floor in most cities.

My London brothers did excellent work with the cards that were dealt them, and saved a lot of people. This is the kind of Fire that shows who the real firemen are.

quote:

Originally posted by hbabler:
< snip >

This is the kind of Fire that shows who the real firemen are.

And they are now searching for remains in a structurally unsafe building.

Courage, the LFB has it in really big quantities.

The drone images from the upper floors suggest to me a few sticks of dynamite and a half mile of det cord, followed by searching the rubble pile is the only safe answer.

The preliminary information I have been able to get included that the 24 story structure did not have a sprinkler system. That would not be allowed in the US.
Also there was some sort of insulated siding/cladding that had an aluminum finish on each side and some sort of foam panel in between. There are supposedly two types of this siding, one fireproof and one not.. Also this cladding was installed with an offset from the actual side of the building which had the potential to create a chimney effect and draw the flames up ( according to one local engineer)...

I'll have to look for that footage I haven't seen it yet.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
The preliminary information I have been able to get included that the 24 story structure did not have a sprinkler system. That would not be allowed in the US.
Also there was some sort of insulated siding/cladding that had an aluminum finish on each side and some sort of foam panel in between. There are supposedly two types of this siding, one fireproof and one not.. Also this cladding was installed with an offset from the actual side of the building which had the potential to create a chimney effect and draw the flames up ( according to one local engineer)...

While a modern high rise will have a sprinkler system there are plenty of older grandfathered residential high rises here that are not protected. It does apeear that the cladding played a major role in the fire spread and with the desire to renovate older buildings to be green this will continue to be an issue.

Apparently this is becoming a political issue over there.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40298473

When I traveled I made it a point never to stay in a hotel higher than the 3ed floor in case of fire.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I've considered from time to time putting together a couple of emergency rappel kits (rope, descenders, emergency harness in a bag) for hotel stays - particularly above the 3rd floor (which I understand to be the reach of most ladder trucks).

-Rob

Not that I ever lived in a high rise, but back when I lived in a Philly row home, all the houses kept emergency chain ladders in the upstairs bed rooms.

Thank you. It never ceases to amaze me how many gun people have a firearm within reach at all times, but are not prepared for a fire.

My wife read an article about the siding on the building and indicated it was not the fire retardant type. In fact, the article indicated it was highly flammable. The article mentioned the residents had been told although there was no sprinkler system that the building was very safe and in the case of fire, their best course was to remain in their apartments while the fire was extinguished.

A lot of Europe is decades behind the US in building and fire code standards. This building was not that old but had no sprinkler system and, I believe, only one exit stair, neither of which would have been allowed in the US at the time it was built.