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Unit 10 Assignment C - Personnel and Fire Agencies
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Case Study used: Grenfell Tower Distinction graded and as always references at the end for your own research :))
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Unit 10Assignment C
Role of Personnel and Fire Agencies
In this assignment, I shall be going over the methods of investigating a fire scene, as well as
the agencies involved. I will also be highlighting the importance of such agencies. For this
essay, I shall be using the case study of the Grenfell Tower incident in London, on the 14th
of June 2017. It led to 70 casualties, and was the worst fire since a 1988 platform fire, as the
fire burned for 60 hours (1). The fire fully destroyed the building after it started on the fourth
floor.
Scientific Method
The scientific method of fire investigation includes steps in order to determine the cause of a
fire, establish the origin points and be able to understand what happened at the scene. The
scientific process is important for being able to apply methodological understanding to a
scene and can also help provide relief for victims and affected members of communities
after an investigation is done.
The first step to the scientific method is understanding the type of problem, such as whether
there was a simple fire or a big explosion, in the case of the Grenfell Tower, it was a massive
out of control fire. Secondly, the next step is to define the problem, this involves finding out
the origin of the fire, and the cause. Next is data collection, this involves things such as
witness statements, examination of a scene, photography of a scene, and diagrams. This
step is important due to being able to reliably document the happenings of a scene to be
used in court. It ensures that all the knowledge about a scene is fully understood, and further
legal issues and legislation can be made regarding the cause of the fire. The scientific
method also analyses the data, to develop a hypothesis and test it, before coming to a final
conclusion.
, As part of the scientific method of research at Grenfell Tower, environmental agencies
conducted examinations of the soil around the tower to look for any contaminations. This
was partaken as part of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (2). This also tested the
‘contaminant linkages’ (HM Government, 2018) (2). Contaminant linkages are links between
a contaminated land and a
person, with this particular test
deeming that contaminants such
as Benzoapyrene - this is a
chemical compound which is
known for occurring after wood
burning, was found around the
site (2). Benzoapyrene is also a
toxic chemical. This linkage is
shown on Table 1. It is incredibly
important these checks were done to not only see the
chemical makeup of the tower (later showing its cause), but to also provide safety checks on
the area for anyone living near, ensuring they do not end up accidentally ingesting toxic
chemicals which could harm them. As part of this investigation, a multi-agency partnership
conducted this testing, this was most effective as it meant there were people with multiple
skills to help consider public safety and interest (such as environmental specialists, fire
investigators etc.).
As well as this, checks such as the fire safety provision within the building were looked into.
This involves looking at documents such as the maintenance of the building, the building
plans, and emergency logs. This is effective for knowing what made the fire become free-
burning so quickly. The fire investigation team determined that a fridge-freezer most likely
caused the fire, this was after discussing witness reports
from the 999 call given, who was the resident of the
apartment the fire started in. According to expert witness
reports in court, it was hypothesised that due to the cladding
assembly on the outside of the building, should a fire have
started, every flat was connected and would ‘support the
spread of external fire back into the building , through
windows, and create a series of internal fire events.’
(London Fire Brigade, 2019) (3) This therefore then, twinned
with an electrical malfunctioning, was able to determine what
caused the fire to spread astronomically quick, as well as
the origin of the fire. This data could further be analysed
through fire
patterns and the structural integrity of the
building. One of the main observations
was that the cladding on the outside of the
building wasn’t compliant with building
regulations, therefore did not adhere to fire
safety procedures (3). Also further shown
in Figure 1, where the fridge freezer was
placed in the flat where the fire initially
started.
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