Friday

In Today's Issue

A piece from Lynda McCraight about the recent tragedy in London.

THE GRENFELL TOWER FIRE DISASTER

On June the fourteenth, twenty seventeen,

At nearly one a.m. flames were first seen

On Floor Four, Grenfell Tower, Kensington.

Many people’s lives would soon come undone.

First Responders arrived very quickly,

Put out the fire, but the flames spread thickly.

Straight up the outside they licked at fast pace.

Two fifty brave firemen joined in the race

To extinguish the flames, get people out.

Fasting Muslims had been able to shout

To alert their neighbours, help them escape

Before their high-rise homes suffered a rape-

By fire, by flame, by the thickest of smoke,

Enveloping their homes in a grim death-cloak.

Firemen entered but were hindered by the heat

On twenty-four floors – that’s two-twenty feet.

Fire-crews with breathing aids searched for the trapped

But zero-visibility handicapped

Their efforts, so new crews were put in place.

THEY rescued sixty-five and made all haste

To reach every floor. Riot Police came

But not for quiet. They each held that same

Shield, flat above the head of each fire-lad,

Stopping dropping debris in which the flats were clad.

The main hindrance to the rescue was that

Rule for tenants to stay inside their flat.

At four o’clock the Met Police addressed

The growing crowd outside: “Please do your best-

Use phone or social media to contact

Tenants still inside, and make clear the fact

That they must – say MUST – self-evacuate

And no longer for rescue sit and wait.”

Straightway there began more evacuation,

Children being dropped without hesitation.

A baby caught, thrown from floor ten - or nine.

One man knotted blankets, made a life-line.

On floor eleven, a half-blind old man

Was pictured waving by a camera-van.

Moments later -and to the crowd’s great relief-

He was rescued at last, but the Fire Chief

Was concerned the building might not be sound,

What with the fire and gas pipes all around.

The fire continued on the block’s top floors,

Only tamed after full twenty-four hours.

Next day, amid fire-pockets being smothered

Structural engineers soon discovered

The block was no danger and fire-crews could

Enter and search. At last - news that was good.

After the fire, the brigade flew a drone

Round the silent structure, as still as stone.

On June twenty-eighth, presumed deaths were eighty

And by UK fire records, deemed most weighty.

Only eighteen dead were identified

Some of those from help calls made from inside.

Most of the victims were from the topmost floors,

But, due to unknown sublets, maybe more.

After June’s slow-release information,

Survivors began their own investigation-

Grenfell United said: “The total is

One twenty or more fatalities.”

A fourth-floor fridge fire was doubtless the cause

But several issues broke fire safety laws.

There was no sprinkler system in this block,

Few alarms- other than a neighbour’s knock,

Poor management issues were suggested

And the cladding was sent away and tested.

Also the Grenfell Action Group, or GAG,

Had a list of other issues in the bag:

Fire-fighting stuff not tested for four years,

“Condemned” extinguishers also raised their fears.

Failed response from Landlord or Minister

Made them feel it was all a bit sinister.

 They repeated warnings from recent years

But said,” ALAS THEY FELL UPON DEAF EARS.”