[Phalanx]

A lot of these problems are related to construction.

It's very early in the Grenfell case yet, but the building apparently had a number of safety issues. Residents said there was no alarm, and that there's only one point of entrance/exit. I'm also not sure how the fire would have spread so quickly and so out of control if the fire suppression system was sufficient. Finally, the fire seems to have spread rapidly on the exterior of the building, which was recently reclad with some type of synthetic material (residents said 'plastic', but doubt that's all it was), so we could be looking at an issue with building materials, too. All lessons to be learned from.

9/11 is, and hopefully always will be, an exceptional case. If memory serves, there was a lot of corner cutting (to save on weight) done with the twin towers that wasn't done with later buildings (improved construction techniques, regulations etc). Things like using cinder block construction, or even simple drywall where poured and sometimes reinforced concrete would be used in modern buildings, for example, made it much easier for the damage to spread. Access to the stairs was physically cut off by the impact, so this isn't something you'd see in a 'normal' fire situation.

Not saying that everything can be made perfectly safe, but much of the risk can be mitigated by proper regulations and construction. It's not as though these buildings are designed and built without taking any of this into consideration.

In the end, if you don't think you can make it down the stairs in an emergency, then you're probably living/working somewhere too tall for you.