The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Podcast

The final day of firefighter evidence in this part of the inquiry. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researchers Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Commissioner Dany Cotton told the inquiry that nothing could have stopped the fire spreading. She acknowledged the London Fire Brigade was aware of the danger of fire spreading on the outside of a building before Grenfell. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researchers Olivia Beazley and Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

In a recording of a discussion held during the incident, Assistant Commissioner Andrew Roe tells the local council its delay in getting building plans to firefighters was a “major deficiency”. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andrew O’Loughlin, tells the inquiry Grenfell Tower reacted so badly to fire that no one should have lived there. The inquiry also heard from the second highest ranking officer to attend the incident, Assistant Commissioner, Andrew Roe. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

As the Grenfell incident developed, five officers in their turn were placed in command of the fire service response. Today, the inquiry hears from Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andrew O’Loughlin, the third to take charge. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

The Inquiry hears from the second firefighter in charge of the incident, Station Manager Andrew Walton. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Norman Harrison tells families who lost loved ones in the fire that he hopes they get the justice they deserve. Plus, Firefighter Adam Johnson helps rescue two people from the 19th floor while running dangerously low on air. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

The Inquiry hears two senior firefighters – Group Manager Richard Welch and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andrew O’Loughlin – were in charge of the incident at the same time, unaware of each other’s actions. Plus, Group Manager Welch explains his decision to stop sending firefighters above the fifteenth floor of Grenfell Tower. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Control Room Operator, Aisha Jabin, describes how she tried to comfort a resident trapped on the top floor over the course of a 40 minute phone call. Deborah Lamprell died in Flat 201 on the 23rd floor with six other people. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Control Room Operator, Peter Duddy, describes how he could not persuade two families on 22nd floor to leave their flat and escape the tower. Operations Manager, Alexandra Norman, tells the inquiry she felt ‘very, very uncomfortable’ with the stay put advice. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, resists calls to make safety recommendations, including an immediate moratorium on flammable cladding, before the end of the year. Plus, senior firefighter Patrick Goulbourne tells the inquiry he never gave up hope residents on the top floors of the tower would be rescued. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Station Manager Peter Wolfenden tells the inquiry a miscommunication between senior officers meant information from 999 calls about residents in the tower wasn’t acted on for an hour. Plus, Watch Manager Matthew Leaver tells the inquiry soon after he arrived he realised firefighters didn’t have the tools to put out the fire that night. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters Katie Foster and Greg Lawson tell nine residents, including a family whose son died in the tower, to remain inside their flats as the fire spreads. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters sent to rescue people trapped on the 14th floor give their account of what happened. Zainab Deen, her son Jeremiah, and Dennis Murphy died on the 14th floor. One of their neighbours, Mohammad al-Haj Ali, was found outside the tower. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Peter Johnson tells the inquiry a lack of ‘vital’ building plans held back search and rescue efforts. He repeatedly requested the layouts from the council, but never received them. The inquiry also hears how firefighters had to deal with computer and technology problems on the night. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Six firefighters give evidence to the inquiry. They describe they struggled with low water pressure, falling debris and a lack of training. Producers Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters are overwhelmed by the volume of 999 calls. Lawyers for survivors, bereaved residents and firefighters urge the inquiry to start making recommendations based on the evidence heard so far. Producers: Kate Lamble and Elisabeth Mahy Researcher: Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

Ambrose Mendy lost his cousin Mary Mendy and her daughter Khadija Saye in the fire. Recently he returned to their flat hoping to find something he could take away to remember them by. He has been at the inquiry almost every day. Sangita Myska talks to him about his experience. Producer Oliver Jones Contact us via email: [email protected]

If you’ve just started listening to the podcast this is a good place to start. We’ve pieced together what we’ve learnt as a result of evidence from expert witnesses and firefighters over the past nine weeks. Researcher Oliver Jones Producer Kate LambleContact us via email: [email protected]

Crew Manager Christopher Batcheldor recalls how he tried to comfort Zainab Deen who was trapped with her two-year old son Jeremiah on the fourteenth floor. Researcher Oliver Jones Producer Kate Lamble Contact us via email: [email protected]

Station manager Michael Mulholland tells the inquiry adhering to policy was challenging. Plus, we hear from Sharon Darby, the first 999 Control Room Operator to give evidence. Researcher Oliver Jones Producer Kate Lamble Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Marc Aston-O’Donovan and firefighter Oliver Desforges help carry out nine rescues on three different floors.Researcher Oliver Jones Producer Kate LambleContact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Glynn Williams says he struggled to keep track of who had been rescued. Most of his information came from children. The Inquiry heard in one case a boy told the firefighter the rest of his family were “all dead”. Producer Kate Lamble, Researcher Oliver Jones.Contact us via email: [email protected]

In a special edition of the podcast Eddie Mair speaks to Crew Manager Aldo Diana who rescued nine people. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Louisa de Silvo writes details of those trapped in the tower on the wall of the third floor. She sends a crew to rescue people trapped on the 23rd floor. Plus, Watch Manager Anthony Peckham describes how he watched the entire scene unfold from his command unit. He hears distraught family and friends urging firefighters to help. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Two firefighters who played a vital part in passing on information about trapped residents give evidence. Watch Manager Paul Sadler organised information on a car bonnet before it was taken inside Grenfell Tower to Watch Manager Louisa de Silvo. Contact us via email: [email protected]

A man carrying an axe and claiming to be an American firefighter is told to leave. Plus, how firefighters improvised a system to pass on information about trapped residents by yelling up two flights of stairs. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters Martin Gillam and Dean Roberts describe how they were sent to the roof to drench the fire from above. They didn’t get that far. Instead they rescued a woman, carrying her down at least 17 flights of stairs. Firefighter Stephen O’Donoghue was sent to rescue two people in flat 95 on the 12th floor but ran into a family on the 11th floor. He carried one of them out of the building. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighter Richard Hippel and Crew Manager Jamal Stern recall their attempt to rescue a bedridden man on the 16th floor. Plus, firefighter Harry Bettinson explains how he stayed with a family trapped on the ninth floor before bringing them to safety.Contact us via email: [email protected]

Control room officer, Sarah Russell, recalls how she stayed on the phone with 12-year-old Jessica Urbano Ramirez, who was trapped on the 23rd floor, until the line fell silent. Plus, firefighter Raymond Keane tells the inquiry that spraying water onto the side of the building made almost no difference. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The highest ranked officer in the 999 control room – Deputy Assistant Commissioner Adrian Fenton – recalls how TV images of the fire influenced the decision to change the stay-put advice to residents. Plus, a solicitor who represented the family of three people who died in the Lakanal House tower block fire in 2009, tells us the Government could have done more to prevent Grenfell. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Station Manager Jason Oliff told the inquiry he spent four hours dealing with information from phone calls of residents trapped in the tower. He faced the “impossible” decision to tell a father to go back up the smoke filled staircase to find his family, despite fears he would die. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Senior Operations Manager, Joanne Smith, changes the stay put advice to residents trapped in the tower. She explains to the inquiry why she did this. We hear evidence of 999 calls made by residents trapped on the upper floors of Grenfell. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Senior Operations Manager Joanne Smith gives the inquiry its first insight into the 999 control room. 344 calls were made to 999 on the night of the fire, many from residents unable to leave their flats because of fire heat or smoke. Joanne Smith tells the inquiry what guidance was given to residents who called the emergency services. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Daniel Meyrick explains his role as a command support officer. He coordinated information from the 999 control room to firefighters in the tower. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Brien O’Keeffe describes the moment 999 calls stopped coming from inside Grenfell Tower. Firefighter Christopher Dorgu talks about how he helped carry casualties outside, and he names the piece of equipment which he thinks could have saved lives on the night of the disaster. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Watch Manager Brien O’Keeffe gives evidence to the inquiry. He describes how firefighters ran out of equipment. Some used their breathing apparatus to help rescue residents trapped in the smoke-filled stairwell in the tower. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Crew Manager Christopher Secrett and Watch Manager Brien O’Keeffe give evidence to the inquiry. Christopher Secrett runs low on air while attempting a rescue on the twentieth floor. He thinks he won’t make it out alive. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Fire Safety Officer Daniel Egan, Crew Manager Christopher Secrett and Firefighter John O’Hanlon give evidence to the inquiry. Daniel Egan speaks to a mother trapped in the tower with her two children. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighter Justin O’Beirne and Senior Fire Safety Officer Daniel Egan give evidence to the inquiry. Justin O’Beirne tells the inquiry about an attempted rescue of a bedbound man on the 16th floor. Daniel Egan explained how he dealt with information from 999 calls made by residents in the tower. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters Justin O’Beirne and Thomas Abell give evidence to the inquiry. Both had problems communicating on the night with other firefighters and the officers in command. A resident tried to escape by tying bedsheets together. Thomas Abell dissuaded him. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Firefighters Daniel Brown and David Badillo give evidence to the inquiry. They highlight communication problems during the night of the fire. We also hear one of the first accounts of a rescue attempt, when David Badillo climbed twelve flights of stairs to try and help a girl down from the twentieth floor. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The first firefighters who tackled the fire in flat 16 give evidence. Charles Batterbee tells the inquiry how he held on to Daniel Brown for dear life as he leaned out of the window trying to put out the fire as it spreads up the building. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The first firefighter to take charge at Grenfell continues his evidence. Michael Dowden said he did the best job he could as a firefighter on the night. Also, we hear from Fatima Alves who lived at Grenfell and let the first firefighters into the tower. She tells us how she and her family are coping a year on from the fire. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The first firefighter to take charge at Grenfell continues his evidence. Michael Dowden broke down in tears as footage of the burning block was shown to the inquiry. Also, we hear from Fatima Alves who lived at Grenfell and let the first firefighters into the tower. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The first firefighter to take charge at Grenfell gives his evidence. Michael Dowden told the inquiry he had no training on how to evacuate people from a high-rise block. Contact us via email: [email protected]

Flat 16: the inquiry hears evidence from the residents of the flat where the fire started. It’s also the start of evidence from firefighters. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The inquiry hears evidence about how the fire spread from where it started in flat 16. Expert witness, Professor Luke Bisby of Edinburgh University, said the fire was unlike any other which has happened abroad because it spread in all directions. Contact us via email: [email protected]

The inquiry sees footage of the moment when firefighters entered flat 16 on the fourth floor where the fire started. Professor Niamh Nic Daeid of Dundee University presents her report into how and where the fire started

The failure of fire safety measures at Grenfell Tower. The inquiry hears from fire safety engineer, Barbara Lane. She sets out how said the building's fire lift and doors did not comply with building regulations and details the combustible materials used around the refurbished window fittings and external cladding which allowed the fire to spread.