A public inquiry into the devastating 2017 London Grenfell Tower blaze that killed 72 people blamed the disaster on failings by the government, construction industry and, most of all, the firms involved in fitting the exterior with flammable cladding.
The background: The fire ripped through the 23-storey social housing block in one of London’s richest areas during the early hours of 14 June, 2017.
It was Britain’s deadliest blaze in a residential building since World War Two.
The key quote: “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable,” inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said.
He also said: “Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, but as our reports show, all contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases, through incompetence, but in some cases, through dishonesty and greed.”
A search and rescue worker inside the scorched Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London in June 2017. Source: AAP / ANDY RAIN/EPA
What else to know: The inquiry laid most responsibility for the disaster on the companies involved in the maintenance and refit of the apartment tower, as well as companies that it said had dishonestly marketed combustible cladding materials as safe.
It also criticised the then-government, the local authority of Kensington and Chelsea, the industry, regulatory groups, specific individuals and an ill-prepared fire brigade for years of inaction over fire safety in high-rise blocks.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised to the relatives of victims and survivors on behalf of the British state, saying “it should have never happened”, and they had been failed for years.
What happens now: The report’s recommendations include tougher fire safety rules, a national fire and rescue college, and a single independent regulator for the construction industry.
