fire in camberwell

[lilly123]

my heart goes out to the people who was involved in terrible Lakanal House tragedy, also to the parents and relatives of these poor babys that have had their lives cut short, this estate is old and i know it from years back, why do the council put up places that have no fire exit? it does say on sky news that improvements had been made to the flats, ie all i can see is new windows and doors, what a bout a fire exit, southwark council needs sit down and think would i like to live there? is it safe? if they dont think its safe as it wasnt then lets make it safe.for god sake dont think of how much rent we should charge you, think is our tenants are safe, no it was not safe as we did not put fire exits in, so southwark council sort out your safety rules, you have enough money from the public, life is un- replacable.

[*Tee*]

My heart goes out to the families of the six people who died in this fire. I cycled past today on my way home from work, and couldnt believe how many fire crew were there.

I hope southwark council, finally get the book thrown at them. They often cut corners to save money on worth while things ,while throwing away endless money on stupid schemes.

[lilly123]

- Edited December 11, 2022 by lilly123

[brum]

I'm in the fire brigade and this tragedy shows how fire can be utterly devastating. Stay safe - fit/check smoke alarms in your homes (if you want more advice on this, PM me) and if you're in public buildings - blocks of flats, hotels etc, and you see a fire door wedged open - remove the wedge and close it behind you. These doors will hold back smoke and fire for at least 30 minutes - provided they are shut!

[lilly123]

ok i know what you are saying is true, so say these people had fire alarms, and the they found out that they had no where to run to because of no fire exits, i know there are no fire exits in these flats.so they had fire alarms and what next because no fire exits? i know it is not your fault but the fault of southwark council, they should make sure that all of their tenants have some sort of safety/exit in case of a fire.

[brum]

I understand what you say Lilly but these buidings are designed like most blocks of flats in the world. The principle is that the building should contain fires in the rooms where they start to give occupants time to escape. Believe it or not, often the safest place for people in flats not affected by the fire is inside their flat with the door closed. The problems arise when the safety measures are compromised - ie through neglect, poor workmanship, bad house-keeping, wedging open doors, breaches in the fire resisting structure through pipes and ducts not properly sealed. A similar fire in Birmingham a few years back that spread through the floors was made worst due to holes in the ceilings of the flats not being repaired properly. If the Council are to be implicated - and an enquiry would reveal this - then I wouldn't be surprised if it is through these kind of issues, and not because they didn't provide an alternative means of escape (which is practically very difficult in high rises)

[PeckhamRose]

Since we do not know all the facts of this case, ie. for example whether there were bars/gates in use preventing fire crews from reaching people/flats, or what was going on, should we wait till we do know the facts? Why immediately blame the Council when we don't know if it was someone smoking in bed, or something. We just don't know yet. (Do we?)

[Andystar]

i truely hope that this was an accidental fire, the woman who died with the 2 young children was the sister of one of my work colleagues, I've got no idea what I'm going to say to him the next time i see him.

[annaj]

Andystar, none of us can imagine what your colleague must be suffering, it's too awful.

As for what you say to him, in a way I don't think it matters as long as you don't say nothing or worse avoid him altogether. Nothing will bring his family back, but condolences are important and do bring some comfort. You could say, truthfully, that the whole community is thinking of him and his family.

[Andystar]

Thanks Annaj, i will tell him that everyone on here is thinking of him.

[Pugwash]

Any fire is devestating especially with such loss of life. Southwark has the largest number of council properties in London. It was the Labour Councils who in the 60s.70s, 80s who dreamed of massive/dense housing estates from Elephant and Castle to Chrystal Palace, with massive walkways everywhere - they boasted in the 70s that one day you need not have to step out onto the street- you could reach most parts of Southwark by just using the walkways. Fortunately, the Labour council could not get their dream. I worked on the Camden Estate in the 70s - at the time it was the flagship of Southwark. Within a year of opening, it looked shabby, staff were told always to go across the square in pairs as crime was rife. Younsters started fires under the walkways, where people piled their rubbish.

I have to attend many Southwark housing estates as part of my job, rubbish is piled up on balconies, wrought iron grilles have been installed over windows and doors as residents are afraid of burglaries. Water damage where tenants baths/wcs/washing machines have over flowed into flats below, the majority having been repaired by the council many times.

I have heard of tenants who have ripped fittings off the walls, including water and central heating pipes - then done a moonlight flit.

I have seen fire routes where thoughtless tenants have put out old sofas/TVs/Fridges thus narrowing the escape routes, Yes some of the repairs are down to the council, but many of the conditions on these estate can be put down to the small majority of tenants (legal or otherwise)who have no consideration for others. We do not know the circumstances of this fire and why it travelled so quickly We can only mourn the tragic loss of life.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

R.I.P. to the 6 people who died.

Just heard the name of The Tower Block: Lakernal where my Aunts were, originally, moved to when Walworth was desecrated by Southwark Council in the 1970's....

[daizie]

give people proper homes for gods sake, tragedy waiting to happen .

[jennyjen]

God bless thier souls... i saw the smoke :(

[Sherwick]

one more absurdity: the tenants had called for the block to be demolished two or three years ago - but had been told it was a listed building, and had to be preserved.

Why oh why are we preserving these crap pieces of architecture?!? And don't give me this 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' rubbish.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Sherwick Wrote:

Why oh why are we preserving these crap pieces of architecture?!? And don't give me this 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' rubbish.

Some of us campaign against them and we WON !!!!

Tony

Sent: 02 June 2008 10:47:40

To: Baillieu, Amanda ([email protected])

I am trying to arrange living accommodation in the heart of Robin Hood Gardens for Sir Richard Rodgers and other architectural illumini.Would you be interested to spend,just 3 months there,as you feel it is such a marvellous place that should be preserved?

Contact me a.s.a.p. as,obviously,there will be a great demand for Architects leaving their own Ivory Towers to take advantage of this tremendous,once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!:)

[AllforNun]

Some is going to carry the can for this : let's hope we get a public inquiry so we can see what has actually going on. The liberals will do there best to avoid one as they run this council, and labour will push for one. Already the executive are spinning and trying to pin the fact that they were built under labour in 1960 means it's their fault: the fact that their own housing regeneration plans are in disaray fails to get mentioned. And why are they in disaray , well because a new kind of politics under a liberal government means just this, spend money only where you will win votes, and do not even bother trying to disguise it. Who do these people represent ? they have no links with Trade Unions, so who are they for ? the burgeoning hordes of middle management perhaps, You know the one's that screw everyone else so long as they get to dip into the Bonus pot at the end of the year....

How very un folk festival of them.

[suniil]

one of the mum and kids were with us in Camberwell Gymnastic club that time, but their home burnt completely in fire.

[lilly123]

my daughter used to live in a block just a few yards away, thank god she has now moved out, sick of waiting for the council to move them they rented private, her flat was situated on the second floor of a 13th block, there was only way one out which was along a balcony if there was a fire in the middle of her block then her and her family would of not stood a chance just like this poor woman and children whos life was taken, southwark council and other councils need to sit back and think of peoples safty,what did southwark council exspect them to do jump over to the next balcony? my heart goes out to your work colleague Andystar, only god knows what you will say to him, my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family,these death trap tower blocks need to be knocked down,i know these places were modernised with new windows and door, new lifts that would break down on a daily bases, that kids vandalised, kids also used to take out the main fuse to tenants electric as the electric cupboard to the whole block of flats were down stairs and never locked, i dont know how many times my daughter called out the electric company when she was left with no electric and 3 children.The rubbish chutes are also a hazzard, where kids can set them alight, one at each end of the block of flats (on each balcony),does southwark council not class this as a danger to peoples lives?

[Maurice]

While one understands your concern and no doubt, like me, you have been quite disturbed by this event, we have to be careful in rushing to judgement. Your own speculation puts the potential blame at kids and residents, which I think is also a quick rush. But your overall tone is that, regardless of what happened, it is entirely the Council's fault. Again, we must not be so quick to rush into judgement. At some point, the Council will be called into account. I also hope we will equally hold individuals responsible for their behaviour, should the cause of this tradgedy rest at the feet of foul play. God help us if that is the case. It is difficult for one to fathom such.

[caz6868]

suniil Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> one of the mum and kids were with us in Camberwell

> Gymnastic club that time, but their home burnt

> completely in fire.

Wow how yrs fly reading this made me cry as the lady mention up above who was at Camberwell gymnastics club with her children and my daughter is now very ill with cancer.

life sucks sometimes so give a thought about how blessed we are .xx

[NewWave]

She is in my thoughts.

We moan about such crap sometimes and threads like this remind us how precious and fragile life is.