Posted on 06/13/2017 7:27:42 PM PDT by Beave Meister
Blaze has engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road in White City on Wednesday morning
Horrifying pictures emerged on social media showing massive flames licking up the side of the block
Desperate residents trapped high in the enormous residential tower were heard 'screaming' for help
Police are evacuating people and two residents are already being treated for smoke inhalation
Desperate residents are building ropes from sheets in an attempt to escape from their windows as a huge inferno is engulfing a tower block in west London.
The 'horrendous' blaze has struck the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, White City, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The fire has reportedly spread to five floors, with firefighters struggling to bring it under control. There are 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters at the Lancaster West Estate.
Desperate residents trapped high in the enormous tower were heard 'screaming' for help as they built ropes from sheets in an attempt to reach the ground. One neighbour said he believed someone had jumped from the block.
The residential block has hundreds of residents two of whom are being treated for illness from smoke inhalation.
Terrified residents in their pyjamas have been evacuated as police are pushing people away from the area for fear the block will collapse as debris has started to fall from the tower.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It’s got 25 floors ...probably intended to say that...
People in the nearby buildings were evacuated because of falling debrie from the fire.
Looks like we got a good lead over on this thread already.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3560664/posts?page=60#60
This photo early on....as firefighters fought the blaze..
I believe all these things are muzzies, until it can be proved otherwise.
Surely like the large cities in the US that have high rise apartments those in London also have sprinkler systems.
I shudder to think of what the death toll in this fire will be.
If it’s arson, the Brits will cover it up.
Pruitt-Igoe without the warning?
Amazing pictures. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a large, reasonably modern building burn like that. Old two and three story apartment complexes sometimes go up like that, but a highrise? How does this happen with modern building codes — “modern” being since the 1930’s?
How many sheets would it take to descend 24 stories ?
In fact, making rope out of sheets is a whole separate area of experience, and I've never done it. I think the preferred way is to cut the sheets into strips and braid a bunch of the strips together, then tie those braided rope segments together into a longer rope, but for Heaven's sake, don't take my word on it!
I would NEVER trust such a rope unless I saw it in Ashley or some other authority, or I was in a high rise that was burning down and there were only two choices: go down the damned rope or be roasted alive.
I do know that for climbing, a double fisherman's knot is often used to tie two ropes together:
It's very secure. Make that a triple or quadruple knot and you have even more security. I've even heard of people doing septuples, then tying the two ends in double fisherman's knots around the standing part of the rope (saw that in a book on rescue knots, lol). I guess the theory is, when your life depends on it, you don't want to mess around.
Strange that this building didn’t collapse and all of it was on fire. Interesting.
Pockets of fire were still burning on Wednesday evening and firefighters will remain on the scene overnight.
I'm on the east coast, and London is five hours ahead of us here, which makes it 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning there.
Did the story ever get out that this was one of those “Council Estates” managed social housing? Muslim immigrants living in welfare housing. They treat their living quarters like a city dump and complain about rich people then to bring attention to their so called “unfair plight” they set the building on fire.
After you tear them into strips, and braid them back together, they are quite strong. However, for maximum strength, simply wet them down before jumping out the window and sliding down them.
Hadn’t heard that (that it was a social housing complex). Thanks for the info.
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