Northants fire chief on the lessons of Grenfell
Chief officer Nikki Watson reacts to yesterday's report into the tragedy.
Chief Fire Officer Nikki Watson says Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue will take every learning opportunity it can from the publication of the Phase Two report of the Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry.
Yesterday's published study examines how the tower block came to be in a condition that allowed the fire to spread back in 2017.
She said:
“The Grenfell Tower Fire has been the biggest single incident to affect the Fire sector in many years. Seven years on, our thoughts remain with the victims, their families and the local communities that were affected by this tragedy. It is important to acknowledge the scale of what happened at Grenfell but also to examine what can be learned as a result of it.
“Although Northamptonshire doesn’t have many high-rise buildings at all, there will undoubtedly be things we can take on board from the national lessons on protection and response that will arise from this.
“Since 2017, our Fire Protection Team has worked with owners of high-rise buildings across the county to improve fire safety within their premises, and a lot has already been learned.
“We will read the full report with interest, identify what we can take forward from the recommendations and implement as much as we can in order to best safeguard our residents.”
Today families of the Grenfell Tower victims are calling for police to urgently press ahead with prosecutions against all those responsible.
The report's concluded that a mix of greed, incompetence and dishonesty were to blame for the deaths of 72 people in 2017.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will face questions this morning about the next steps the government will take following the end of the inquiry into the disaster.
The Prime Minister's issued a state apology.
But Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says there's still a long way to go before any criminal prosecutions are made.
Meanwhile the Leader of North Northamptonshire Council says council owned housing stock has no buildings that has cladding like Grenfell Tower.
Jason Smithers, adds that the building control team has not been notified of any other buildings across the authority that fail to meet requirements introduced after the tragedy.