June will mark seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire in London, in which 72 people died and 74 were injured, and the investigation is still not over. Police are waiting on the final court report to file charges, but some victims and family members see a premeditated tactic so that the crimes become statute-barred and no one goes to jail.
The 24-storey, 120-apartment skyscraper, to the west of the English capital and which can almost be touched from the subway, still stands, reinforced by steel pylons and covered with a white canvas, with a heart drawn on a kind of hood that they put on him. The technicians recommended its demolition, but it would not be easy to carry out due to the proximity of other buildings. And there is also no agreement on whether to preserve part of it, as a tribute to those who died and as a memory of the disaster, rebuild it, make a park there… The bill for its maintenance as rubble has already cost 120 million euros, with renewable contracts that are making a company rich.
A provisional report after the accident, in 2017, attributed the tragedy to several factors, including the coating of the exterior with polyurethane (insulating but highly flammable material), and the recommendation to the neighbors (85% non-white, of African, Asian and Caribbean origin) that, in the event of a fire and if it was not their own flat, they would stay at home even if they heard the alarms, waiting for the fire brigade. Those who followed this unfortunate advice instead of escaping, died.
Although no charges have been filed against the builders, architects, or municipal authorities, compensation has been paid. The survivors were resettled in officially protected housing (as was the damaged building), and they have negotiated a package of 175 million euros. A total of 114 firefighters have received between 12,000 and one million euros each, for the physical damage and emotional disorders suffered.
The cladding materials for Grenfell Tower were manufactured by the American company Arconic, which denies all responsibility and claims that the correct installation, and in accordance with the safety regulations in force, is the responsibility of the owners, builders , engineers and architects of the buildings. According to the CBS television network, e-mails that have emerged in the course of the ongoing investigation indicate that some employees of the firm were aware that their product carried risks, but continued to sell it.
Experts and witnesses have declared for 85 weeks “in order to be able to make the most precise recommendations possible to prevent such an event from happening again”. But the vast majority of additional security measures initially proposed (evacuation plans, more alarms…) have been dismissed by the City Council as “disproportionate”.
