https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/what-happened-at-grenfell-tower-london-fire-visual-guide
 
In case anyone missed it, yet another tragedy in the UK, a residential tower built in 1970 with only a single fire escape.
 
Not exactly great news for me currently considering I might have to move into a flat if I dont get offered a house.

I think you're missing the point.  The "not exactly great news" is that people have lost their lives and others are in the hospital as well as firefighters and first responders are in harms way trying to help people.
 
My thoughts and prayers for those involved.  tragic indeed.

Bhav
Not exactly great news for me currently considering I might have to move into a flat if I dont get offered a house.

I'm sure you have the deepest, heartfelt sympathies of everyone here.

You're actually much more likely to die in a house fire than a high rise fire. Most high rises are fireproof, meaning the fire cannot spread from one floor to another and is usually contained in the unit in which it started. At least that is the case here in NYC. Of course, all bets are off if the developers are stupid enough to cover the building in flammable cladding, which enables the fire to spread from floor to floor via the outside of the building. Looks like that was the case in London this morning.

They actually had an action group predicting that this would happen too:
 
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/
 
Also fire safety checks that were previously scheduled to take place to assess the tower were postponed.
 
Yes the loss of life is terrible, but so much catastrophe could have been avoidable if they had taken the resident's complaints seriously, or even better yet if such a building with only a single fire escape had not been permitted to be built in the first place.

Beagle
I think you're missing the point.  The "not exactly great news" is that people have lost their lives and others are in the hospital as well as firefighters and first responders are in harms way trying to help people.
 
My thoughts and prayers for those involved.  tragic indeed.

Right, but I believe I summed that up already with the word tragedy.
 

sharke
You're actually much more likely to die in a house fire than a high rise fire. Most high rises are fireproof, meaning the fire cannot spread from one floor to another and is usually contained in the unit in which it started. At least that is the case here in NYC. Of course, all bets are off if the developers are stupid enough to cover the building in flammable cladding, which enables the fire to spread from floor to floor via the outside of the building. Looks like that was the case in London this morning.

It depends on how they build the flats, the outlook for social housing flats in the UK is not good:
 
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/aug/23/social-housing-timber-frame-fire-risk
 
And the guvment doesnt care to do anything until such a tragedy happens, I wonder if there will be stricter fire safety regulations put in place for new flats, but even still a lot of current flats are still at high risk.
 
Also in case of house fires, all you have to do at the most is throw a mattress and any other fabrics out of a window and jump on. You might still get some damage, but thats going to be more fixable than if you end up stuck at the top of a block of flats.

Bhav

sharke
You're actually much more likely to die in a house fire than a high rise fire. Most high rises are fireproof, meaning the fire cannot spread from one floor to another and is usually contained in the unit in which it started. At least that is the case here in NYC. Of course, all bets are off if the developers are stupid enough to cover the building in flammable cladding, which enables the fire to spread from floor to floor via the outside of the building. Looks like that was the case in London this morning.

It depends on how they build the flats, the outlook for social housing flats in the UK is not good:
 
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/aug/23/social-housing-timber-frame-fire-risk
 
And the guvment doesnt care to do anything until such a tragedy happens, I wonder if there will be stricter fire safety regulations put in place for new flats, but even still a lot of current flats are still at high risk.
 
Also in case of house fires, all you have to do at the most is throw a mattress and any other fabrics out of a window and jump on. You might still get some damage, but thats going to be more fixable than if you end up stuck at the top of a block of flats.

As your link says, these timber frames are being used in buildings of no more than 6 or 7 stories. That's not a high rise.

I saw this on the news this morning. Such a tragedy.
 
I'm guessing the building didn't have fire sprinklers either?

DrLumen
I saw this on the news this morning. Such a tragedy.
 
I'm guessing the building didn't have fire sprinklers either?

 
It wouldn't have made any difference if it did, the fire engulfed the entire 24 floors in about 30 minutes.
 
They're reporting 6 dead, but given the time it happened  (1am), and the speed with which the fire spread, the toll is likely to be much higher.
 
So distressing.
 

Wibbles

Bhav
Not exactly great news for me currently considering I might have to move into a flat if I dont get offered a house.

I'm sure you have the deepest, heartfelt sympathies of everyone here.

 
Honestly Bhav, how you can make something as appalling as this like this 'about you', is absolutely beyond me.