Thread by @SteveMcfirerisk

Remember this one as clear as day - 23 June 2017 week after #grenfell

Was waiting on the bus home - absolutely shattered (thread)

Grenfell fire: Theresa May attacked by fire safety expert for not treating disaster as national emergency independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Call came in from @gtubbsky @skynews back of 8pm 23 June 2017

Gerard: Steve we have another one

Me: another #Grenfell

Gerard: no! five tower blocks in Camden are being evacuated

Me: let me check the jumbo tv (in Woolwich Sq normally showing @BBCNews)

Me Put me on now

Gerard - going live 3, 2, 1

I recall saying:

where the hell is Teresa May,

why hasn’t Parliment been recalled,

why hasn’t COBRA been convened,

where is the Home Office & MHCLG fire experts

this is turning into a PR disaster for Local Authorities

It just came pouring out as I’m standing in the middle of Woolwich Sq, looking in disbelief at the events unfolding at #ChalcotsEstate

Only days before I had challenged Philip Hammond then Chancellor, assertion that the cladding on #Grenfell was banned

news.sky.com/story/grenfell…

Remember seeing people, families, kids taken from their homes with what little they could carry

Shocked not only as a fire expert but as then vice chair to #EmergencyPlanningSociety in London

How could this be happening in the UK with our robust standards?

Some 800 households & 4,000 people were decanted (costing £10m) following the councils decision that the blocks were too dangerous to remain occupied

Since 1997 fire precautions workplace regs all workplaces commanded fire risk assessments but residential fell through the cracks

Remember coming off the interview & calling my then partner

Saying: I’ve just committed career suicide again, criticising the PM, government, its advisors, but someone has to speak out

She responded by saying just come home kids miss you (we split in 2019 due to the pressures)

Next day, was called back to #ChalcotsEstate by @SkyNews @BBCBreaking + more

Information now released: fire + gas safety concerns raised by @londonfire

Honestly believe the council did the right thing triggering the emergency decant as precaution

news.sky.com/story/camden-e…

Remember shocked residents listening in & one older gent approached as chair of a residents group

Son are you the Scots lad on the news

Yes, I responded, how can I help sir

Son, your the only one speaking out, the only one making sense, can you help us

Yes I promised

Then spoke to a mum fraught her autistic son refused to leave

Lady in the wheelchair who needed to get her meds refused entry

An elderly couple, husband with a heart condition & doctors letter advising to stay put

I had to get a senior fire officer to pledge to care for them

Another interview with @gtubbsky that day looking at the cladding panel which had been removed

This wasn’t #Grenfell as a different type of insulation was used - so why was the building evacuated?

Later @govuk tests determined other cladding systems were unsafe but how many?

I remember this lady & her dog from the night before - Shirley Phillips, 72

Looking lost and looking for answers the following day

We had to call the council leader over to talk to her & her daughter

The plight of Shirley, so many other residents and the council leaders response is captured well here @DailyMailUK

Who also captured the headlines of my live interview with @skynews the night before

How many statements are still valid today?

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4…

When working on these live point interviews you meet other experts

Many I have sincere respect but some are deplorable: barging in & blatantly self-promoting interests

Then accusing you of similar when this is not the case

Snide flak I’ll live with to help as many as possible

When you have a tragedy such as #Grenfell & compounding #Buildingsafetycrisis how can you not speak out

Sadly why so few experts speaking out following #Grenfell #Chalcots #Ledbury #Barking #WorchesterPark #BoltonCube and so many more cases - why?

Week after #Grenfell &before #Chalcots a core group of sector leaders pulled session I was to chair at #FireX2017 by saying

“We’ve said all there is to say on #grenfell”

I offered to let someone else chair, suggested we captured delegates views & take these to @10DowningStreet

In 2018 I begged another sector leader to speak out & he responded

“We represent our members views, why rock the boat, business is better than ever”

They forget oaths many of us have taken to protect society from fire & do well to remember such + I don’t take kindly to threats

Following #GrenfellTowerFire 5th anniversary on the 14th June 2022 @govuk estimates just under 10,000 mid to high-rise blocks have cladding issues

How many more have fire safety or building standards issue & more importantly long everyone is safe at home

inews.co.uk/news/were-no-c…

Recall after #chalcots evac on @RidgeOnSunday being pointed in my observations many of which have now been realised @grenfellinquiry @commonsluhc

Note Australia which has its own #buildingsafetycrisis adopted BS8414 in 2016 a year before grenfell bregroup.com/press-releases…

https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/878909546780966912

Over the past 5yrs what stays with me the most is the barriers to presenting expert opinion & scorn for suggesting such

The deaf ears of industry

Ambulance chasers becoming overnight millionaires

Personal cost to so many & the devastating impact of the #buildingsafetycrisis

This week in the UK we had reminders that fires at home are a frequent occurrence

Building & Fire Safety Acts will take years to embed & it may take decades to resolve the #buildingsafetycrisis

New hazards are emerging & we cannot be complacent

We cannot forget 72 lost souls