NFPA Journal - Fall 2021 - 17

evacuating buildings, particularly
high-rise buildings. There's a huge
range of things. We're more than a
year from when those recommendations
were released and only a few
have actually been implemented in
full. There's no legal requirement for
the government to put them in place.
WHAT HAS THE PHASE TWO
EVIDENCE BEEN LIKE SO FAR?
I think what's kind of extraordinary
about phase two, which has been
going on since January 2020, is that I
don't think in all that time we've heard
from a single witness who did a good
job from beginning to end. I'll give you
an example. One of the companies
that manufactured the materials that
were added to the exterior of Grenfell
Tower passed a large-scale fire
test in 2005. Then, a year later, they
changed the way their insulation was
made. They retested it and the later
tests with the new version turned
into what some staff described as a
raging inferno, but they kept referring
to the 2005 test for years. It was only
withdrawn in 2020, when they finally
accepted it didn't represent the material
being sold.
WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF EVIDENCE
THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU?
There's one particular witness statement.
It's a statement from someone
whose mother and sister lived inside
the tower and they were on the phone
with them that night, telling them to
try to get out of the building. And he
described as they slowly went quiet
until he could only hear banging, and
he didn't hang up the phone. He knew
they were gone, but he stayed on the
phone, and after a period of time, he
heard the fire break in through the
windows and consume the flat. He
still stayed on the phone in the hope
that somebody would reach them.
That's the kind of thing that will be
with me forever.
WHAT DOES THE BROADER
SITUATION LOOK LIKE IN THE UK
WHEN IT COMES TO COMBUSTIBLE
EXTERIOR WALL COMPONENTS
ON HIGH-RISES?
Shortly after the fire, there were a
lot of investigations into the materials
used on other high-rise and
mid-rise buildings all around the
country. They found that hundreds
of apartment blocks had combustible
cladding of the same or similar
type used on Grenfell. Many had
combustible insulation, too, or cavity
barriers and things like that not
properly installed on the outside of
buildings. It suddenly affected thousands
of people.
This is an ongoing issue where
lots of people who own those flats
are being asked to pay for the remediation
work. A lot of these people
are going bankrupt as a result. They
can't pay the fees to replace the
cladding or pay for fire watches in
their building. So it's known in the UK
as the cladding scandal. It's not just
about Grenfell Tower. It's not just one
building. I think this is telling us much
more about the entire culture of the
construction industry as a whole.
Sri Lanka
Cargo ship blaze highlights
dangers of maritime fires
For nearly two weeks in May, a cargo
ship hauling hazardous materials
burned off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Experts say the blaze highlights the
challenges involved with fighting fires
on large marine vessels.
" Once a fire starts anywhere on a
ship, the first few minutes are key to
extinguishing it, " Lawrence Russell, an
engineer at NFPA who specializes in
marine hazards, told NFPA Journal for
an article published online during the
Sri Lanka ship fire. " With a small crew,
that can be difficult. They may not be
well trained, or they may not have the
resources to fight the fire. On a cargo
ship, for example, if the fire starts in
one container buried in a stack of other
containers, it can be difficult, if not
impossible, for the crew to effectively
attack the fire at the source. "
According to media and government
reports, firefighters from nearby India
and as far away as Europe assisted with
efforts to control the blaze. The ship
eventually sank and resulted in significant
environmental damage. Read the
NFPA Journal coverage of the incident
at nfpa.org/srilanka.
A cargo ship containing hazardous materials burns off the coast of Sri Lanka.
The incident highlighted the difficulties associated with fighting fires on large
marine vessels. The ship burned for nearly two weeks before sinking.
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NFPA Journal - Fall 2021

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