A British government investigation into the deadly fire that killed at least 79 people and destroyed the 24-story Grenfell Tower apartment block in London earlier this month has pinpointed the cause of the inferno. It started from a freezer in one of the corner rooms in the lower floors. But here is where the findings get really chilling. The fire was sped along by unsafe external cladding that wrapped around the entire building.
Anyone who has seen video footage of that fire on television will likely have only one observation -the flames spread too fast and did not behave normally like most other fires. Most building fires are contained within the building. And while it is unavoidable for flames to leap out from open windows, seldom, if ever, do they combust simultaneously on all sides of the building and engulf it in one huge blazing hell the way the fire at Grenfell did.
It was clear the Grenfell fire fed on more than just what it can eat inside the building. It gorged on accelerants on the outside and British probers have determined the accelerants were the unsafe external cladding just newly-installed during a major refurbishing. The external cladding on Grenfell was found to be unsafe after failing safety tests conducted by investigators on similar samples.
Taking the cue from the investigators' findings, British authorities swiftly evacuated residents from 34 apartment blocks scattered in 17 places all over the United Kingdom that had similar cladding on them. The cladding on these 34 apartment blocks also failed safety tests. At the time of this report, more than 4,000 apartment dwellers have already been forced to evacuate by officials.
So why is the finding of the British investigators interesting? Because external cladding has recently become sort of a fad among builders in the Philippines, including right here in Cebu. And it is easy to see why. External cladding insulates a building and improves its appearance. But as British probers have determined, it is also highly combustible and must, therefore, clear rigid fire safety standards.
This is a must. Being blamed by British probers for the rapid spread of the blaze at Grenfell, similar cladding on many Cebu buildings does not give us a very comforting thought indeed. And while it may be presumed that building and fire safety officials in Cebu City are fully aware that a lot of buildings that have risen in the city recently have external cladding on them, it is unclear if they know just how dangerous cladding can be if they do not pass fire safety standards.
If the external cladding on a good number of buildings in Cebu City already passed stringent fire safety requirements, then well and good. If not, then now would be the perfect time to act and act swiftly. Everybody has seen what the Grenfell fire looked like. Certainly we do not want a fire with similar characteristics to happen here in Cebu.
Not even if we have the best firefighting equipment, which unfortunately we do not have. London was not wanting in modern, high-tech fire-fighting equipment, including ladders meant to combat high-rise fires. But everything London had was simply no match for the firestorm that swallowed up Grenfell. Again, we have all seen how the Grenfell fire looked on TV. The best way to avoid that is to not let it happen here. All cladding must be checked.