The block I am in was subject to a BBC documentary a decade ago for being a high fire risk building.
The containment measures originally designed into the building have long been compromised by short-term upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms. The service riser is now a chimney that freely joins every flat in a vertical quarter of the building into a single contiguous fire channel.
We have no sprinklers, we have a single fire escape, but there is no fire alarm. The theory is that containment will hold and so it is best that people stay put. That the emergency services will need to come up the fire escape, and this is why Grenfell residents stayed put. But even were people to orderly try and use it, there is no means to raise the alarm.
Internal fire doors do not create a seal. Internal doors in the flats have been removed over time and not replaced by the landlord (the council).
Central heating was removed and replaced with a communal oil burner for a radiator system. The central heating ducts remain, joining flats vertically, joining rooms of flats, filled with dust and not sealed off.
Simply put, I live in a death trap.
I am more fortunate than my neighbours. Despite having been homeless when I was younger, I now have a salary that allows me to save for a deposit and to find another place to live. But London rents being what they are I cannot move now and still save for a deposit... if I did I would be consigning myself to never own the property in which I live.
So I must stay, and deal with the fire risk, manage it as best I can, whilst I save for a deposit.
If anyone ever wants to know why startups should have a market to permit existing shareholders to buy shares from employees holding options... this is it. Life gets in the way. I'm sitting on share options that could provide a transformational effect on my life, that could let me sleep at night and live in much lower stress levels. It's hard to give 100% to work when any night could be the night I am burned alive. I sleep fitfully, restlessly. I am so desperate for a way out... but it takes time, I only have a salary and the IPO is too long away (even if gets announced tomorrow).
Fire risks are real, the terrible neglect of housing is real, and it doesn't help everyone but if you're a founder and you want to know how to help someone... provide liquidity to your employees.