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Grenfell residents beg people not to take selfies at the scene of tower block fire

by 36 Comments

The selfie seems to be an unstoppable force now. Wherever we go, either we need to take one, or we see others taking them. Over the weekend I went to visit some friends and we took a wander through a local park. It felt like every other person we saw had their phone out shooting selfies in the glorious weather. But there’s a time and a place for it.

There are also times and places where it’s definitely not appropriate. The site of the burnt out Grenfell Tower is one of them. Inappropriate or “Disaster Selfies” seem to have become something of a trend in the last couple of years. It’s been happening so much at Grenfell, that local residents are actually putting up signs asking people not to shoot selfies.

Grenfell tower is a 220ft (67m) tal tower block in London. The blaze broke out on 14th of June, and even firefighters were shocked with what they saw as they rushed to the scene. The official cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Also unknown is the exact number of people who perished in the tragedy, as the search could last for weeks. The building contained 127 apartments with 227 bedrooms at the time of the fire.

The sign shown in the tweet above is not the only one, either. There are several dotted about the area.

And we can’t blame this one on “vain millennials”. The disaster selfie trend seems to be attracting all ages and genders. One can understand the fascination with events such as these and wanting to document them. They’re not something we see every day. They become important markers in history, but please show some respect.

This is not the time or place to take selfies – in front of a tower block where my friends passed away.

– Lorraine Warrington, Local resident

We are living in very sad times when people feel that signs like these are even necessary.

People should not need to be told that this is inappropriate.

[via Metro]

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  • Wtf is wrong with people

  • Common decency is not that common these days

  • I don’t even know why people want to take photos of a burned out hulk, let alone selfies.

  • and those people can vote…

    • 🙁 Yeah.

    • Just because they’re idiots with no real consideration for those trapped inside or affected by the blaze, does not really mean they are incapable of making smart decisions.

    • Liam Lynch nice ironic comment… I hope 😉

  • I saw idiots smiling while taking selfies at the 911 Memorial. Also saw the same idiocy at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. Similar other things, too.

  • This is not illegal by any law.

    • So it’s still inappropriate

    • It’s got nothing to do with whether it’s legal or not, and everything to do with having a bit of respect and being a decent human being

    • Scumbag

    • He still is right, you know

    • Only a court can decide what is appropriate and what is not. To my knowledge, there is no court ruling banning selfies in this place. Hence, selfies are appropriate, decent and respectful.

    • Whatdoyknow

      You just don’t get it. Forget it man. You take your selfies where ever you want and be happy, OK.

  • Thought selfies was banned in major places

  • With three cameras, I bet that this is an informal news post or video that shows the reporter, no?

  • Ian Hecht

    We’re living in a time where a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women was elected to the highest office of the USA. An airline bodily hauled a passenger off one of their planes to make a place for one of their employees. Decency seems to be a fading concept.

    • Matthias

      Well, you know, in good old times droves of onlookers would push each other out of the way for an opportunity to dip their handkerchief in the blood of freshly executed criminals to keep it as a souvenir… no smartphone involved, but more decent? What’s changing is how quickly indecency gets exposed to a large public these days.

  • Too late

  • We will douchebags amongst us

  • Cannot understand why the media i.e. TV news reports has to have their reporters standing with the burnt out block behind them in full view. This cannot be nice for the poor people who have lost someone in this tragedy, having it stuck in their faces and have to be reminded every News broadcast. It is bad enough when they do the news reports from flood areas and have to stand in two foot of water with their new Wellington boots on.
    Come on have some respect for these poor people!

    • media does not care it There job is to feed 24hours news.

  • Alecio P

    You have to get people taking that kind of selfies and bang their heads with the cameras or phones they are taking the selfies with….

  • Public property anything goes, well anything legal, people just to have to understand that some people just don’t give a “F”

  • Dave Ferriman

    Disgusting human beings…….. Really no need to take selfies….. It’s immature and down right disrespectful……. Would u do it if that was ur family members caught up in there? NO U WOULDNT …….. Sad times we live in with social media the way it is……

  • Mark Smido

    Its wrong it’s not right and sadly its a sign of the times? I’m sad to say everyone thinks it’s ok to do this. Common decency seems to have no place in our society any longer and it needs to change, the fact that the media were all over it almost 24 hours a days it becomes the norm to take pics selfies and try to make money from anything whether it’s a fire, death on the streets, terrorism etc etc etc. The media have to take a portion of the blame for this.

  • Hey look at ME… I was at the scene of where all those people were dying at the moment I took that wonderful picture of MYSELF… Because the picture is only important if I’M in it… I mean, how can I prove the picture is MINE if I’M not in it?… How can I prove that I took the picture if nobody sees that I’M in the photo?… 😐

  • Вергунов Сергей

    Taking selfies is a freedom of expression. Whoever opposes it opposes basic freedoms.

    • Doug Birling

      So you don’t see the difference between taking a selfing at the site where someone died and say a nice summer day in the park? Having respect for the dead is a pretty universal thing most cultures share.

      And just because you have a freedom doesn’t mean you have to be jerk with it.

      • Вергунов Сергей

        Who said that taking pictures, including selfies, automatically means disrespect? Who said that banning just anything implies respect? I see no connection between ban and respect. No connection between taking selfies and disrespect. A person may take selfie and respect the dead at the same time. Explain me why not?

        • shahnyboy

          Simply cos a selfie is about you and there are many places & events where you cannot and should not matter.

          • Вергунов Сергей

            Then ban access to Grenfell. Declare “No man zone”. Nobody matters there anyway.

    • Whatdoyknow

      A selfie is an egotistical move! It says look, look at me, I was there. Like when you were a little boy and you pestered your mom or dad to have a look what you can do. When you are a child that’s understandable, when you are a grown-up not so much anymore, because you are big now and don’t need the oh’s and ah’s, good boy anymore, unless……. Of course it shows your freedom of expression so does mine.

  • Вергунов Сергей

    President Obama was taking a smiling selfie at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Nobody said nothing. Why so much noise now? http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1545419.1386859178!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/article-helle2-1212.jpg

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