ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It was the deadliest fire on British soil since World War II. Seven years ago, flames engulfed a public housing complex in one of London's richest neighborhoods - 72 people died that day. Now, a damning report from investigators assigns blame. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Many people are feared to have died after a fire engulfed a tower block in West London.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: It was the early hours of June 14, 2017. Fire broke out in the Grenfell Tower, a low-income high-rise in London's posh Kensington and Chelsea borough. Built in the 1970s, the tower's concrete facade was later coated with synthetic insulated cladding, which turned out to be extremely flammable. Firefighters initially told residents to await rescue and stay inside, which is where most of them died.
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MARTIN MOORE-BICK: Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Mohamed Ibrahim...
FRAYER: They were largely working-class ethnic minorities. They included taxi drivers, architects, a poet and 18 children.
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MOORE-BICK: Hesham Rahman, Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan.
FRAYER: Their names were read aloud today at a hearing where investigators said that Grenfell that day became a death trap. There was no single cause of the tragedy, they said.
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MOORE-BICK: The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.
FRAYER: Sir Martin Moore-Bick chaired the inquiry into their deaths and read aloud his report.
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MOORE-BICK: Those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants.
FRAYER: Failed by the companies that made the cladding - they were found to have manipulated safety tests - failed by architects and engineers who used cheap material, failed by regulators who didn't enforce building standards, by the London Fire Brigade and its outdated equipment and failed by the previous conservative-led government, which was found to have put deregulation over safety.
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PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: So Mr. Speaker, I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British state.
FRAYER: In Parliament today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer from the rival Labour Party.
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STARMER: It should never have happened. The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty.
FRAYER: Today's report calls for tougher fire safety rules and a single unified regulator for construction. Criminal charges could still be forthcoming for companies and individuals found liable. But for this report to be worth anything, it must address the city's gaping inequality and bring systematic change, says survivor Natasha Elcock who lost her uncle in the fire.
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NATASHA ELCOCK: Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbors and loved ones in the most horrific way - through greed, corruption, incompetence and negligence.
FRAYER: Across London, buildings with the same cladding are still being renovated - but very slowly, amid wrangling over who should pay for it. And today, Grenfell still towers over the boutiques of Notting Hill. It's vacant, shrouded in white, with a sign on the top that says, Grenfell forever in our hearts.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.
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