UK’s Grenfell Tower fire inquiry blames ‘decades of failure’ by authorities, industry

The inquiry put most responsibility on firms involved in the tower’s maintenance, failings by local and national authorities

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Smoke rises from Grenfell Tower in London in 2017. Photo: AP

Published: 6:41pm, 4 Sep 2024Updated: 9:03pm, 4 Sep 2024

A public inquiry into the devastating 2017 London Grenfell Tower blaze on Wednesday blamed the disaster on failings by government, the construction industry and most of all the firms involved in fitting the exterior with flammable cladding.

Seventy-two people died when the fire ripped through the 23-storey social housing block in one of the richest areas of west London during the early hours of June 14, 2017. It was Britain’s deadliest blaze in a residential building since World War Two.

“The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable,” inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said.

In its long-awaited final report, the inquiry laid most responsibility for the disaster on the companies involved in the maintenance and refit of the apartment tower, failings by local and national authorities as well as companies which had dishonestly marketed combustible cladding materials as safe.

There was also widespread criticism and blame levelled at the government, local authority of Kensington and Chelsea, the industry, regulatory groups, specific individuals and an ill-prepared fire brigade for years of inaction over fire safety in high-rise blocks.