Firefghting

148. Firefghters attending the scene were faced with rapidly developing and unpredictable fre spread. Burning debris falling from the sixth foor, collected within the recessed façade of the building at ground level, developing further seats of fre. This was particularly noticeable in the atrium area between the north stairwell and the accommodation. The fre then spread upwards, causing large amounts of radiant heat from roof level.

Image 8: The Cube - collation of still images taken from video footage recorded within 10 minutes of initial 999 call - 15th November, 2019

149. Fire spread through the accommodation block and lift lobby, with subsequent failure of glass partition walls. Signifcant fre damage was observed throughout the decking outside the fat entrance doors.

150. The fre spread laterally across the upper aspect of the building to involve the entirety of the roof. Further seats of fre developed at the rear of the building as burning debris fell into recesses at foor level. Again, fre spread the height of the building with smoke, heat and fre entering fats on each level as windows failed.

151. With the additional resources in attendance, the building was surrounded with frefghting jets of water from ground level from within the open courtyard / terrace area and from the Silverwell Lane aspect, from neighbouring buildings, and from high reach AAs.

Image 9: The Cube – Phase 2 – 15th November 2019

152. Below level six, the internal compartmentation appeared to be largely effective in checking the spread of fre. Level six, however, was fully engulfed in fames and completely destroyed.

153. Efforts to prevent fre spread by radiant heat to adjoining buildings was successful, despite their close proximity to some aspects of The Cube.

154. The use and deployment of GMFRS’s Air Unit (Drone), particularly with the thermal imaging capability, assisted the IC with assessment of fre spread and the deployment of assets for direct frefghting and protection of neighbouring buildings.

155. Whilst it was confrmed that full searches had not been completed due to the severity of fre damage and unsafe structures, the remainder of the night activity consisted of lower level operational intervention. As the incident declined from the dynamic developing stages to a steady state, multi-agency briefngs and updates to partners continued.