Tower block fire - london

Steampunk said:
They are apparently quite difficult to use, even by a stuntman in controlled circumstances and modest heights. It's easy to miss them, and they deflate to catch a body. If two people tried to use them at the same time, they would both die, even if they could fall and hit a relatively small target. Probably impossible from the top of a burning tower block.
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still better odds than landing on concrete...

could have done with a large cherry picker too
 
balky12 said:
Besides being potentially abused by drunks.. why don't high rise apartments have strong attachment points, and emergency rope/ carabiners, so occupants can abseil themselves down, perhaps one in each room or ones at communal areas?

People might say training needs to be involved, which is probably out of the question, however if you are at the point of abseiling out of your high rise apartment you are probably at last chance saloon and out of options. Learning to abseil, or just climb down the rope, on the fly probably has a higher chance of survival than jumping...
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If you're going to think that far ahead, you'd be better off installing a proper fire suppression/sprinkler system. How are you going to the old, kids or disabled people safely down a rope? Do you know how big a rope you'd need to get down 20 floors?
 
Steampunk said:
If you're going to think that far ahead, you'd be better off installing a proper fire suppression/sprinkler system. How are you going to the old, kids or disabled people safely down a rope? Do you know how big a rope you'd need to get down 20 floors?
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yup - you'd need one that is 20 floors long plus about another 15 - 20ft on top of that to give you a bit of slack to work with tying it off to a decent anchor point
 
glen8 said:
Doesn't the smoke kill more people quicker than the actual fire. Masks wouldn't be a bad idea.
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A mask would last all of 30 seconds in a fire that intense. What they needed is full respirators, which cost 10x the price, need regular checks, and filter cartridges. They have relatively short shelf lives too, so would need replacing every few years.

Even then, that still leaves the heat, entrapment and debris tk deal with.


What buildings like this need are emergency fire proof elevators in the central core so that they're easily accessed by all.
 
platinum87 said:
No, all that nonsense they put on the exterior of the building to make it look better seems was not fireproof, seems like the fire spread from one place vertically along the outside of the building, and then into various flats.

^^^ literally all anyone needs to say.
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You have to question what all the cladding was for. It looks suspiciously like it was there to tidy the building up, rather than service any meaning benefit to the residence.

An old, outdated, unsafe building covered in a flammable party frock to keep some of the more well todo locals happy.
 
dowie said:
yup - you'd need one that is 20 floors long plus about another 15 - 20ft on top of that to give you a bit of slack to work with tying it off to a decent anchor point
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I didn't say how long, I said how big. It's physically large to support it's own weight, and you'd need a lot of them. They'd have to be checked and replaced regularly, and pretty sure you're not going to get randoms to abseil through flames. You might as well ask for a set of giant harpoons that would pin a wire down to the ground and allow people to zipline down to the ground. Still no way to get kids, the elderly or the disabled down. Instead of asking for silly movie stunt equipment, all that's really needed is a working sprinkler system, and not building them like inverted wicks.
 
Stretch said:
You have to question what all the cladding was for. It looks suspiciously like it was there to tidy the building up, rather than service any meaning benefit to the residence.

An old, outdated, unsafe building covered in a flammable party frock to keep some of the more well todo locals happy.
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It's insulation to improve energy efficiency of the building and protect the 40-year old structure from the elements. The single glazed windows were replaced at the same time to reduce heat loss, noise transmission and safety.
 
balky12 said:
Besides being potentially abused by drunks.. why don't high rise apartments have strong attachment points, and emergency rope/ carabiners, so occupants can abseil themselves down, perhaps one in each room or ones at communal areas?

People might say training needs to be involved, which is probably out of the question, however if you are at the point of abseiling out of your high rise apartment you are probably at last chance saloon and out of options. Learning to abseil, or just climb down the rope, on the fly probably has a higher chance of survival than jumping...
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When I was at boarding school in the mid 60's, the top floor dormitories did indeed have a system a bit like this as a fire evacuation system.

It was called a Davy escape (See http://activerain.com/blogsview/4268666/the-davy-fire-escape---something-unusual-in-winnetka )

Needless to say, as 7-10 year olds we were never given any training as to how to use this. It was after all the 1960's when people, even young children, were still expected to figure out how to use stuff like this on our own should the need arise....! :p
 
Steampunk said:
I didn't say how long, I said how big. It's physically large to support it's own weight, and you'd need a lot of them. They'd have to be checked and replaced regularly, and pretty sure you're not going to get randoms to abseil through flames. You might as well ask for a set of giant harpoons that would pin a wire down to the ground and allow people to zipline down to the ground. Still no way to get kids, the elderly or the disabled down. Instead of asking for silly movie stunt equipment, all that's really needed is a working sprinkler system, and not building them like inverted wicks.
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indeed you're not - though if you do live in such a high rise and you're sufficiently worried you could stash a big climbing rope and couple of harnesses in your wardrobe just in case
 
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