London Fire Brigade head Dany Cotton said on Wednesday that she would not resign despite criticism of how the service responded to the devastating fire in London's Grenfell Tower that took the lives of 72 residents in 2017
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) London Fire Brigade head Dany Cotton said on Wednesday that she would not resign despite criticism of how the service responded to the devastating fire in London's Grenfell Tower that took the lives of 72 residents in 2017."I can understand that the people of Grenfell are hurting and want someone to be accountable. What has been important for me is that we are putting steps in place to change things, we are learning, he have identified our own areas that we have been concerned about way before the inquiry. It's important for me that I continue to protect the people of London by putting those steps in place and developing London Fire Brigade. And by resigning now that would not happen," Cotton told Sky news.
The remarks came amid the release of a 1,000-page report of the first phase of an inquiry into the tragedy, which, in particular, revealed that the London Fire Brigade's systematic failures had caused the death toll to significantly increase because people were told to "stay put" in their apartments instead of evacuating.
According to the report, the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit. Additionally, the report said that the "principle reason" why the fire spread so quickly was due to the presence of combustible aluminum composite material (ACM) cladding panels, which were added when the structure was refurbished prior to the fire in 2017.
However, Cotton admitted that "clearly knowing what we know now about the building and about ACM cladding we would do things differently."
In the early hours of June 14, 2017, a massive fire broke out in the 24-story residential building in west London, killing 72 and injuring more than 70 others. The building burned down completely.
The second phase of the inquiry is due to start in the new year and is expected to look into the condition of Grenfell Tower and how it came to be refurbished with the highly-flammable cladding.
