Grenfell: don't let them Blame Firefighters
Firefighters are braced that they will be blamed for the deaths in the June 14th fire at Grenfell Tower. Judge Martin Moore-Bick is due to publish a 1,000 page report which is just the first part of his analysis of the causes of the tragedy tomorrow (Wednesday 30th October).
Unfortunately the report has been leaked to the press. As Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), tweeted, “It will be deeply upsetting to bereaved and survivors of Grenfell fire that the report has been leaked.”
The majority of the press, typically, have been ready to point the finger at individual firefighters and ignore the wider context. This is outrageous. As Matt Wrack pointed out, “Firefighters did not put flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower. Firefighters risked their own lives time and again during the fire.” He went on, “Press is utterly failing to address of CLADDING or scrutinise the decisions of government ministers. Government has done nothing substantive in 28 months.”
The FBU has consistently argued that the inquiry has been conducted back to front. The first part deals with the behaviour of individuals on the night of the disaster. The deeper causes of the tragedy will not be investigated till 2020. We already know that the Tower had been recently refurbished with combustible cladding that spread the fire. Matt Wrack told the Today programme on October 29th that decisions were made on the night "in the context of a building that [had] completely failed".
Referring to the flammable cladding, Matt added: "People will be baffled [as to] why people haven't already been prosecuted for doing that to a building, which led to the deaths of 72 people, and yet the actions of individual firefighters on the night of a fire are being subject to such scrutiny."
“The whole building had been turned into a death trap before any call went in and North Kensington firefighters turned out that night,” said Wrack. In particular Michael Dowden, the North Kensington watch manager is likely to come under criticism. Wrack retorted, “We have always warned our members the inquiry could be a stitch-up of them. We will defend our members vigorously.” Quite right too. In trying to save lives and risking their own, 150 firefighters and control room staff involved in the tragedy have already been treated for PTSD.
The FBU has already published a genuine explanation of the causes of the fire: ‘The Grenfell Tower Fire: a crime caused by profit and deregulation.’ If you want to know the real story of who is to blame, this is the report to read.
https://www.fbu.org.uk/publication/grenfell-tower-fire-crime-caused-profit-and-deregulation
