[UK] Grenfell Tower Fire: 80 dead; Camden towers evacuated

[Vassenor]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

[Alvecia]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

HCN is mainly produced though the Andrussow process, named for developer Leonid Andrussow. The method involves reacting ammonia, natural gas and air over a platinum catalyst to form HCN. Alternatively, HCN can be produced by the BMA process, which uses ammonia and natural gas only.

Gas line and cleaning products? Idk.
I imagine you get all sort of weird chemical things happening when a house burns down.

[Ifreann]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

Polyurethane.

You know, the stuff the cladding was made from.

[Frank Zipper]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

The insulation was made from PIR, a plastic that does produce cyande when it burns. It is worryingly widely used in constructing warehouses, factories, and in air conditioning units. This is going to lead to some very expensive work having to be done.

[Alvecia]

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

Polyurethane.

You know, the stuff the cladding was made from.

Would you look at that

Polyurethane polymer is a combustible solid and can be ignited if exposed to an open flame.[41] Decomposition from fire can produce significant amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, in addition to nitrogen oxides, isocyanates, and other toxic products.[42] Because of the flammability of the material, it has to be treated with flame retardants (at least in case of furniture), almost all of which are considered harmful.[43][44]

[Ifreann]

Polyurethane.

You know, the stuff the cladding was made from.

Would you look at that

Polyurethane polymer is a combustible solid and can be ignited if exposed to an open flame.[41] Decomposition from fire can produce significant amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, in addition to nitrogen oxides, isocyanates, and other toxic products.[42] Because of the flammability of the material, it has to be treated with flame retardants (at least in case of furniture), almost all of which are considered harmful.[43][44]

Cladding a block of flats in flammable material that produces highly toxic hydrogen cyanide when burned, to save a few quid.

That's...uh...that's pretty bad.

[Imperializt Russia]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

Cyanide is, for whatever ungodly reason, a component of things such as insulation and furniture.
So when there is a house fire, you have cyanide in the smoke.

Because this wasn't a terrible idea.

[Minoa]

If most of the 600 tower block cladding projects fail fire safety testing, either BSI (our safety standards institution) has fallen way behind, or the manufacturers have been cutting corners too much.

[Ifreann]

Might not be anything, but King's College Hospital has confirmed it treated three people from Grenfell Tower with the antidote for cyanide poisoning.

That'd be just the icing on the cake. What could make your day worse when your house is burning down around you? Here you go mate, bit of cyanide for you.

Cyanide is, for whatever ungodly reason, a component of things such as insulation and furniture.
So when there is a house fire, you have cyanide in the smoke.

Because this wasn't a terrible idea.

It's the fault of the worst of all known sciences.

Organic chemistry.

[Imperializt Russia]

If most of the 600 tower block cladding projects fail fire safety testing, either BSI (our safety standards institution) has fallen way behind, or the manufacturers have been cutting corners too much.

I got a BBC news alert saying that Downing Street confirms "flammable cladding" is on "seven towers in four areas".

Apparently at one block in Camden, workmen are already beginning the process of removing the cladding, and the council is apparently informing the contractor responsible that legal action will be taken - it is claimed that this flammable cladding is "not up to council standard".
Seemingly no word on how many towers have so far been tested versus confirmed poorly-clad.

[Geilinor]

Would you look at that

Cladding a block of flats in flammable material that produces highly toxic hydrogen cyanide when burned, to save a few quid.

That's...uh...that's pretty bad.

And monumentally stupid. Should also be criminal.

[Geilinor]

Similar cladding was also used on a tower in Dubai that caught fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marina_Torch#2015_fire

[Imperializt Russia]

Polyurethane is an incredibly common substance in the home and large numbers of items in a blaze will probably release cyanide gas as a result.

The reason it is notable here is obviously due to the sheer scale of the fire and the amount of polyurethane-containing materials (including the cladding) that eventually burned.
The key point about the cladding is that its flammability is clearly still the problem.

[Gauthier]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/21/rehousing-of-grenfell-tower-families-in-luxury-block-meets-mixed-response?CMP=share_btn_tw

I'm glad Maria and Nick gave their names to the paper so we know who to send to the gulags first when Jezza takes power.

Don't feel bad for them, the gulags also have 24 hour concierge service and private theater.

[Geilinor]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/21/rehousing-of-grenfell-tower-families-in-luxury-block-meets-mixed-response?CMP=share_btn_tw

I'm glad Maria and Nick gave their names to the paper so we know who to send to the gulags first when Jezza takes power.

Now the people whose names are on the tenancies will get rehoused here, and then they’ll rent the flats out on the private market.

What a joke. Nick thinks people will pay to live in a burned-out death trap?

[Fartsniffage]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/21/rehousing-of-grenfell-tower-families-in-luxury-block-meets-mixed-response?CMP=share_btn_tw

I'm glad Maria and Nick gave their names to the paper so we know who to send to the gulags first when Jezza takes power.

Now the people whose names are on the tenancies will get rehoused here, and then they’ll rent the flats out on the private market.

What a joke. Nick thinks people will pay to live in a burned-out death trap?

That's not what he meant...

[Imperializt Russia]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/21/rehousing-of-grenfell-tower-families-in-luxury-block-meets-mixed-response?CMP=share_btn_tw

I'm glad Maria and Nick gave their names to the paper so we know who to send to the gulags first when Jezza takes power.

Now the people whose names are on the tenancies will get rehoused here, and then they’ll rent the flats out on the private market.

What a joke. Nick thinks people will pay to live in a burned-out death trap?

He seems to be suggesting that people will be selling these private apartments on the open market, despite ostensibly living in them as social housing.

Sounds like an Express-readers opinion tbh, because that's not what subletting (what he is supposedly talking about) is.

[Vassenor]

In this case aren't the flats now owned by the City of London, so they can't sell them on or anything like that?

[Pope Joan]

I heard one young man weeping on the radio, saying that he and his brother were being escorted from their room by firefighters but then got separated. He made it out but his brother phoned him to say that the firemen had made him remain, saying it was "too dangerous for us to escort two Muslims at the same time." His brother then died in the flames.

This was replayed on the CBC's As IT Happens show last week.

[Vassenor]

I heard one young man weeping on the radio, saying that he and his brother were being escorted from their room by firefighters but then got separated. He made it out but his brother phoned him to say that the firemen had made him remain, saying it was "too dangerous for us to escort two Muslims at the same time." His brother then died in the flames.

This was replayed on the CBC's As IT Happens show last week.

OK that makes no rational sense.

[Imperializt Russia]

I heard one young man weeping on the radio, saying that he and his brother were being escorted from their room by firefighters but then got separated. He made it out but his brother phoned him to say that the firemen had made him remain, saying it was "too dangerous for us to escort two Muslims at the same time." His brother then died in the flames.

This was replayed on the CBC's As IT Happens show last week.

This has a strong resemblance to a survivor story that I am aware of, the only detail that doesn't match up is the alleged Islamophobic incident.
This man was interviewed on live TV by more than one broadcaster in the days after the fire.

He just says that he and his brother became separated, then his brother called from the flat, wondering where he was and if they were coming to get him.

[Minoa]

Source: http://news.camden.gov.uk/camden-set-to ... er-blocks/

The arrangement of the cladding on these towers did actually prevent a flat fire spreading at the Taplow block in 2012, but Camden has decided that Chalcots Estate will get new tiles because of the material (aluminium panels with a polyethylene core).

EDIT: @#%&! Forgot the word "spreading" after "prevent a flat fire". Refiled.

[Corrian]

So what things typically release cyanide as a combustion product?

HCN is mainly produced though the Andrussow process, named for developer Leonid Andrussow. The method involves reacting ammonia, natural gas and air over a platinum catalyst to form HCN. Alternatively, HCN can be produced by the BMA process, which uses ammonia and natural gas only.

Gas line and cleaning products? Idk.
I imagine you get all sort of weird chemical things happening when a house burns down.

Considering when a house burnt down in our neighborhood, it smelled like nothing but burning plastic in our neighborhood...Yeah, I would guess.

[USS Monitor]

Cyanide is, for whatever ungodly reason, a component of things such as insulation and furniture.
So when there is a house fire, you have cyanide in the smoke.

Because this wasn't a terrible idea.

It's the fault of the worst of all known sciences.

Organic chemistry.

My grandfather died from doing organic chemistry. Not a joke.

[Major-Tom]

Similar cladding was also used on a tower in Dubai that caught fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marina_Torch#2015_fire

Clearly the cladding isn't the problem. Instead we should ban the poor.