The London Fire and the Enduring Problem of Fighting High-Rise Infernos
17th June 2017
THE FIRE THAT raged through a London apartment building on Wednesday night horrified engineers for more than its terrible human cost—at least 12 people died in the blaze at the 24-story tall Grenfell Tower, and London authorities expect to find more as they search the still-smoldering ruin. It was a disaster made even worse for its utter lack of unexpectedness. Residents had been warning about shoddy maintenance and smoking electrical equipment for at least four years.
But what investigators will have to figure out is exactly how the fire spread the way it did—because a fast-burning ignition that spreads from floor to floor of a tower block is exactly what modern building and fire codes are supposed to prevent. The mantra of high-rise fire protection is compartmentation, suppression, and evacuation, in that order. In London, the first two failed, but that’s unusual. It’s that third priority—getting out—that researchers around the world are still trying to solve.
This is why I would never live in a high-rise, and why I laugh at all of the ‘urban planners’ who think that ‘density’ is the answer to all our problems. Until we have the technology, uh, no thanks.