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Sunday, 18 June 2017

London fire: What we know so far about Grenfell Tower


View of Grenfell Tower in May (left) and during the fire on 14 June
At least 58 people are missing and presumed dead and 10 people remain in critical care after a huge fire engulfed a west London tower block in the early hours of Wednesday.

What happened?

The fire was reported at the 24-storey block, Grenfell Tower, in North Kensington, 00:54 BST on Wednesday.
Forty fire engines and more than 200 firefighters went to tackle the blaze.
The fire affected all floors of the building, from the second floor up.
Firefighters worked with the gas authority to isolate a ruptured gas main in the block.
Once it was completed, they were able to extinguish the fire with the help of a 40-metre aerial appliance.
The blaze was under control by 01:14 BST on Thursday. BBC 
Damage to Grenfell Tower on the North, South, East and West elevations

How many victims are there?

The BBC understands that about 70 people are missing as a result of the blaze.
Police have said 58 people are assumed to be dead - but they believe that figure may increase if there were other people in the tower who they do not yet know about.
This information has been sourced through a mixture of reporting by BBC News staff on the ground, contacts to the BBC from families and friends including via social media and other media sources.
The London Ambulance Service says 74 people have been treated in six hospitals - St Mary's, Chelsea and Westminster, Royal Free, St Thomas', Charing Cross Hospital and King's College Hospital.
There are 19 patients still in hospital, with 10 of those in critical care.
Six victims of the blaze have been provisionally identified by police.
However, Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said there was "a risk that sadly we may not be able to identify everybody".
Firefighters rescued 65 people from the building, according to the London Fire Brigade. Others made their own way out.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said a "number" of firefighters had suffered minor injuries.
Media captionFootage shows the extent of damage
Eyewitnesses said some people may have been trapped in the building, which contains about 127 flats.
Notting Dale ward councillor Judith Blakeman, who lives across the road from the block, said between 400 and 600 people live in the building.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said fire crews only managed to reach the 12th floor at the height of the fire.
The Met Police has set up an emergency number - 0800 0961 233 - for anyone concerned about friends or family.
Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council said it had housed 109 households in hotels in west London by Friday morning and people should get in touch - on 020 7361 3008 - if they were still in need.

What caused the fire?

It is not yet known what caused the fire.
Footage has shown the fire spreading up one side of the building externally, before engulfing the entire block.
Fire safety expert Elvin Edwards described it as a "chimney effect", adding that the wind would have fanned the flames.
The cladding - installed on the tower in a recent renovation - has come under scrutiny, with experts saying a more fire resistant type could have been used.
Cladding can create cavities which in some cases can cause a chimney effect, drawing flames up the cavity if there are no fire barriers.
The Department for Communities and Local Government said that if the cladding used was a composite aluminium panel with a polyethylene core, it would be non-compliant with current building regulations guidance.
This material should not be used as cladding on buildings over 18m high, the department said.
However, it said it could not comment on what type of cladding had been used. This would be subject to investigations into the fire's cause, it said.
Matt Wrack, of the Fire Brigades Union, said something had clearly gone badly wrong with fire prevention procedures at the building.

Where is the tower block?

Grenfell Tower in north Kensington
Grenfell Tower is on Latimer Road, in west London.
It is part of the Lancaster West Estate, a social housing complex of almost 1,000 homes, in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
It is in a neighbourhood ranked among the most deprived 10% in England.
The tower block is near Westfield shopping centre in White City and the A40 - a major route for traffic entering and leaving the west of London.

What do we know about Grenfell Tower?

Grenfell Tower FireImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionSmoke could be seen from miles away
Grenfell Tower was built in 1974 by Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.
An £8.6m refurbishment - which was part of a wider transformation of the estate - was completed by Rydon Construction in May last year. Work included new exterior cladding, replacement windows and a communal heating system.
There was also extensive remodelling of the bottom four floors, creating seven additional homes, and improvements to communal facilities.
Schematic plan of Grenfell Tower
Residential floor plan
Rydon said it was "shocked to hear of the devastating fire", adding that the work "met all required building control, fire regulation and health & safety standards".
It later issued a new statement, removing the previous mention of the building meeting fire regulation standards, instead saying the project met "all required building regulations".
The tower is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) on behalf of the council.
In its latest statement, it offered its "sincere and heartfelt condolences" to those affected by the "devastating event" at Grenfell Tower.
It said its immediate concern and focus was working with the council to assist the residents of the tower block and those affected by the tragedy.

Grenfell Tower, North Kensington

  • 127 flats
  • 24 storeys
  • 20 residential levels
  • 4 mixed levels of community areas and residential flats
  • 2016 refurbishment completed
AFP

How safe was the tower block?

The local Grenfell Action Group had claimed, before and during the refurbishment, that the block constituted a fire risk and residents had warned that access to the site for emergency vehicles was "severely restricted".
In February 2013 residents warned fire safety equipment, including fire extinguishers, had not been tested for 12 months.
KCTMO said it was aware that concerns had been raised historically by residents and they would form part of its investigations.
The tower block was given a medium fire risk rating - defined as a normal fire risk - in 2016 following completion of the refurbishment by the London Fire Brigade and Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.
The council insists the block has been regularly inspected, but London Mayor Sadiq Khan said safety and maintenance issues would have to be looked at.
Geoff Wilkinson, a fire and building inspector, told the BBC that the Grenfell Tower block "didn't perform in the way you'd expect a building to perform" once it caught fire as "you'd expect it to be contained to an individual apartment".
"Something has gone dramatically wrong here," he said.
Grenfell tower fire sign
The fire safety advice for Grenfell Tower residents was to "stay put" - unless the fire was affecting their own flat.
David Sibert, Fire Brigade Union fire safety expert, said: "The principle that tower blocks are built on is that every flat is a fire-resisting box - every flat is completely surrounded by fire-resisting construction from the rest of the building.
"So you should be able to set fire to your own flat and leave it to completely burn out and it won't affect anybody else in the building."

What are eyewitnesses saying?

Media captionLondon fire: Families threw children out of Grenfell Tower to safety
Eyewitnesses said they saw people trapped inside the burning building screaming for help, and shouting for their children to be saved.
Some said they saw lights - thought to be mobile phones or torches - flashing at the top of the block of flats, and trapped residents coming to their windows - some holding children.
Eyewitness Jody Martin said: "I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams."
Tiago Etienne, 17, saw small children being thrown out of the building from as high as the 15th floor.
Paul Munakr, who lives on the seventh floor, managed to escape. But he said he was alerted to the fire not by fire alarms but by people on the street below, shouting "don't jump, don't jump".

How people are helping

Woman handing out sandwiches to residentsImage copyrightPA
Churches, community centres and football clubs have been inundated with donations of clothes and toiletries for those affected - many of who were forced to escape the burning building in their night clothes.
More than £1m has been raised to help those affected by the fire, with more than 60 tonnes of donations collected by one local mosque.
The majority of the centres have requested locals hold off sending down any more donations until further requests are made.
A number of individuals have also reached out via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to offer accommodation and transport help.

What other disruption is there?

Grenfell Tower
People are being advised by police to stay away from the area, where roads are closed, and to expect bus diversions on several routes.
Falling debris has caused a number of flats in the area to be evacuated.
NHS England is asking Londoners to use its services "wisely" and, if they need medical attention, to "seek advice from NHS 111 in the first instance".

The last abduction that nailed billionaire kidnapper, Evans (Details)


For seven years, suspected dare-devil kidnapper, Chukwudemeje George Onwamadike aka Evans, escaped police dragnet. His escape during his daring kidnapping runs had conferred on him supernatural invincibility of sort. His reign, however, came to an end last Saturday, after a police special squad led by Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), arrested him at his No 3, Fred Shoboyede Street, Magodo, Lagos home, after a fierce gun battle which lasted several hours.

An abduction carried out by his gang on February 14 this year had paved way for his demystification. On that day, which coincidentally was celebrated all over the world as St. Valentine’s Day otherwise known as lovers day, a pharmacist and the owner of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company, Ilupeju, Lagos, Mr. Donatus Dunu, was abducted by Evans’ gang. 

Dunu had barely left his office in the evening when he was blocked by a vehicle. Before he knew it, Evans’ gun-wielding men had stepped out of the vehicle and bundled the pharmacist into their vehicle and sped off to No 21, Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, a Lagos suburb where he was kept for three months.

Evans subsequently demanded the payment of a sum of one million euros as ransom. Despite efforts to make Evans see reason and reduce the money, he would have none of it, even after a sum of N100 million had been paid to him. It was either the money was paid or Dunu paid with his life.

While looking for the money, Dunu’s wife, who is also a director of the company, staff members organized prayers for the safe return of their boss. One of the workers said: “We did not only pray but engaged in fasting too. Who will not pray and fast if his or her boss was in such condition? It was really traumatic for us.”

Unknown to Dunu’s wife and his workers, the person who gave the information leading to Dunu’s abduction was one of the staff members of the company, identified as Emeka, who was employed about five years ago.

At the gang’s den in New Igando, where Dunu was kept, he had given up hope on the possibility of regaining his freedom. But he had a big break in the early hours of Friday, May 12, 2017, while his captors were deep in sleep. Despite losing his weight, Dunu managed to wriggle out of the leg-cuff he was held with. He was only wearing a pair of short and white singlet. A perimeter fence with broken bottles was to become a major obstacle to his escape, but the victim used his bare hand to manoeuvre the shattered bottles and climbed his way to freedom.

It was learnt that when he landed into an adjoining building, he was mistaken for a fleeing robber or cultist. Security guards raised the alarm which attracted neighbours to the scene and it was providence that saved him from being lynched by a mob.

One of the security guards who asked not to be named said: “I just came to my duty post that day when I started hearing the shout of ‘thief! Thief!’ I came out and saw this fair-complexioned man running towards me. I stopped him near that mini- tanker (he pointed at a decrepit stationary tanker). He was wearing only his boxer with his white singlet placed on his shoulder. There was fear in his eyes and he looked sick and traumatised. His body was blood-stained and there were injuries on his legs probably because he had been cuffed on his legs for a long time.

“Some people were unwilling to listen to him and they wanted to take him away. I said no, they should leave him here and instead call the elders of the community. I took him to the front of that Foursquare Church and told him to sit at the entrance of the church. I then asked how much the kidnappers were demanding from him and how much he had paid and he said they were demanding N500m and he had paid about N100m. I was shocked. We then took him to the Igando Divisional Police Station. Later that afternoon, the operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) returned with him to the street, but he was so tired and sick; he did not even come out of the vehicle. They broke into the compound but the kidnappers had escaped. So many things were discovered in the compound, including guns, a white bus and a power bike. I had never seen any power bike on this street before then.”
Home of alleged kidnapper informant
Abductors’ den

Number 21 Prophet Asaye Close, where Dunu was kept, is at the end of a close facing the entrance to the street. The compound has only a single bungalow. The compound is covered with interlocking stones. It is a study in irony. Carved on the gate is the sentence ‘Jesus is Alive.’ There is a doorbell on the left side of the gate. Observing the building closely, it is easy to see why the kidnappers settled for it. It is a single bungalow, so no noisy neighbour or neighbours to snoop into their business. It has coconut trees at the back, but there were no high rise buildings from where anybody could monitor what they were doing.

Asked about the activities in the compound, our source said: “They (abductors) kept to themselves. The guy there, whenever he was driving in from outside, the gate would have been opened before he got to the gate. In addition, loud music was always wafting from the bungalow. This always muffled every noise coming from there. This happened mostly in the day time. In the night, of course, the generating set would take over. So, we (neighbours) could never have known what went on there”.

With the escape of Dunu, he was able to make useful statements to the police about his kidnap. The next day, May 13, SARS operatives in four patrol vans stormed Franzaki Street, Bucknor Estate, off Isheri Osun Road. It was the rented home of one of the workers of Maydon Pharmaceutical, identified as Emeka, a pharmacist. He is from Oguta, Imo State, and in his late 30s or early 40’s; he has a wife and a child, according to the residents, who were rattled by the early morning raid.

Emeka was whisked away from his house by the police. Since then, the residents said he has not returned.

It was on the basis of this breakthrough that the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, four days after Emeka’s arrest on May 16 declared a certain faceless Evans wanted. He said: “We are encouraging Nigerians to blow the whistle on this kidnapper. Whoever blows the whistle will get N30 million rewards as stated by the Inspector General of Police…Evans has been on the wanted list of the Police in Anambra, Edo and Lagos states for years. The suspects arrested have given us valuable information, which the command is working on to ensure that he is apprehended by all means.”

Operatives of the Inspector General of Police’s anti-kidnapping team went into action and with the aid of high tech equipment, they were able to track key members of the kidnap syndicate, rounded them up and then set the stage for the final arrest of Evans. This came last Saturday when Evans was demystified by the police.


Mood at the victim’s firm

At the headquarters of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company Limited at 15 Wilmer Street, Ilupeju, Lagos, the atmosphere was subdued. The workers discussed in low tone. There were several innuendoes about a certain Emeka from Oguta. Both Mr. Donatus Dunu, the chairman of the company, and his wife, the managing director, were not on seat.

However, one of the male workers said they had been warned not to discuss their boss’ harrowing experience with pressmen and that it was only the boss or his wife that can speak on the matter. Pressed further, he described his boss’ escape as miraculous. When shown the picture of the compound where Dunu was kept with the inscripti on ‘Jesus is alive’, he exclaimed ‘indeed, Jesus is alive!’

Thenationonlineng 

Watch Actoe Gideo Okeke Praise God for saving his live through a follower Below....

Open Heavens 18 June 2017: Sunday daily devotional by Pastor E. A. Adeboye – It’s What You Tolerate


Topic: It’s What You Tolerate [Sunday 18, June 2017]

Memorise: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. – 1 Peter 5:9

Read: Matthew 8:14-15 (KJV)

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

Bible in One Year: Judges 7-8, Jeremiah 50:17-30, Hymn: Sing hymn 4

MESSAGE:

When Jesus came to Peter’s house in today’s Bible reading, He met his mother-in-law down with a fever. He touched her and she was healed instantly, and she then began to attend to their needs. This clearly tells us that Jesus does not tolerate sickness in our bodies. However, the question is, do you tolerate sickness? Some people are tolerant of things they should not accept. Tolerating sickness is telling that sickness that it is welcome in your body. Some people tolerate certain sicknesses that are traced to certain natural conditions. For instance, when a woman is pregnant, people expect her to go through morning sickness. While this is mild for some people, it can be very tough for some others. Nevertheless, if you know your rights as a spiritual Hebrew woman and stand in faith against any form of ill health, you will receive strength to go through pregnancy in good health and not in sickness. To do so, you must be strong in faith and tell sickness that it is not welcome because you have no room or space for it. 1 Timothy 2:15 says,

“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

In other words, if you are truly a godly woman, you should not be taken down by the dangers of childbirth that affect ungodly women. Stand in faith and live holy, and your conception and delivery will be most pleasant!

In the same vein, some sicknesses are attributed to old age. An elderly man who was still quite active suddenly got up one day and realised he had difficulty walking. He tried some self-medication to no avail, and so he was taken to the hospital. The doctor examined him and told him his sickness was as a result of old age. He was advised to just manage it with certain medicines. There are some people whose eyesight fail them due to old age, even as early as 60 years old. For a child of God, you can stand in faith, resist such sicknesses and enjoy good health all through your life. At 120 years old, when it was time to go to be with the Lord, Moses still retained the strength of his youth (Deuteronomy 34:7).Caleb also retained his strength at 85 years old (Joshua 14:10-11). If you stand in faith, what affects others will not be able to affect you. If you refuse to resist these sicknesses, you will become a victim just like everyone else. The choice is yours.

Key Point: If Jesus has carried your pains and sorrows according to Isaiah 53:4, why are you still accepting to carry them?

Open Heavens Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

iOpenHeavens is the electronic version of the Hard Copy. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC.