Grenfell fire: Met launch probe into fire service’s ‘stay put’ policy

Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation into London Fire Brigade’s controversial decision to tell residents to ‘stay put’ as the block burned.  

Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said today his officers have an ‘absolute obligation’ to consider if the diktat was illegal and caused the deaths of 72 people in west London last June.

London Fire Brigade has defended itself over its order relayed to residents in the burning tower saying they had been in an ‘impossible situation’ that night.

The inquiry into the worst fire for a generation has already heard, however, that firefighters on the ground had been begging bosses to abandon the policy as flames reached the top of building within 20 minutes.

Yet senior London Fire Brigade officers in the control room only ordered the evacuation an hour and 50 minutes after the first 999 call.

According to the fire brigade, the policy was not abandoned until 2.47am – two hours after the blaze started

At the same time Deputy Assistant Commissioner Adrian Fenton demanded the ‘stay put’ order be stopped when he switched on Sky News and saw the building engulfed.

Speaking today Commander Cundy said: ’71 people plus baby Logan died as a direct result of that fire. It’s an absolute obligation on us to be looking at the most serious potential criminal offences that may have been committed.

Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said today his officers have an 'absolute obligation' to consider if the stay put diktat was illegal and caused the deaths of 72 people in north London last June

Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said today his officers have an ‘absolute obligation’ to consider if the stay put diktat was illegal and caused the deaths of 72 people in north London last June

He added at a press briefing that the criminal probe into ‘stay put’ will be part of the wider Scotland Yard investigation into the fire.  

This ‘stay put’ advice – which was slavishly adhered to by the emergency services for almost two hours – has been blamed for contributing to the deaths of the 72 victims. 

On the night of the blaze last June, terrified residents dialling 999 were instructed to stay in their flats in the 24-storey block rather than risk the flames and deadly fumes.

Despite this, the Daily Mail has learnt that the policy is still in place in all the tower blocks close to the burnt-out remains of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, west London. Warning signs insist that in the event of a fire residents ‘should initially be safe’ if they close their doors and windows.

These signs are identical to the safety advice notices which were in the communal corridors in Grenfell.

The policy was widely criticised at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry last week by relatives of the victims.

Paulos Tekle, whose five-year-old son Isaac died in the blaze, told the public inquiry how neighbours urged the family to flee, but during numerous 999 calls over two hours he was repeatedly told to ‘stay put’ – until he was ordered abruptly to get his family out immediately.

Fire and rescue workers at a one minute silence by Grenfell Tower in West London after the tragedy. Many are said to have urged bosses not to use 'stay put' for so long

Fire and rescue workers at a one minute silence by Grenfell Tower in West London after the tragedy. Many are said to have urged bosses not to use ‘stay put’ for so long

But by then the fire had spread, the building’s only stairwell was filled with smoke and, in the chaos, Isaac became separated from his parents.

Fire chiefs say there was no obvious alternative to Stay Put 

Fire commanders marshalling the battle against the Grenfell Tower inferno had ‘no obvious and safe alternative strategy’ than telling residents to stay put, an inquiry has heard.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has been criticised for the length of time taken to abandon the policy – nearly two hours after the blaze was first reported – despite flames reaching every floor.

On the final day of opening statements at the inquiry into the disaster, The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said both commanders and firefighters were left in an ‘impossible situation’.

The refurbishment of the building has seen material installed that made it a ‘highly combustible death trap’, which the brigade lacked training and procedures to tackle, the union said.

Fire safety advice within tall buildings is set by the building owners, not the fire service, meaning it accords with the design specifications and escape capabilities.

Stephen Walsh QC, representing the LFB, told the inquiry: ‘It is a fundamental misunderstanding of the events of the fire and of fire service capability to assume the building’s stay-put policy can be changed to a simultaneous evacuation at the stroke of a fire incident commander at whatever time.

‘If there is no policy applied by the building owner which provides for a policy of simultaneous evacuation and there are no evacuation plans and there are no general fire alarms – what is an incident commander on the fireground to do?’

Martin Seaward, for the FBU, used his opening statement to ask ‘what alternative strategy might have been implemented’ in the fast-moving situation.

He said: ‘There remains no obvious and safe alternative strategy nor detailed plan.’ 

Mr Tekle, his wife and their three-year-old son survived, but Isaac’s remains were found on the 13th floor. He was one of the youngest victims of the blaze.

Last night, residents of the towers around Grenfell described the decision to keep the disputed policy as ‘madness’ and ‘absolutely criminal’.

Many witnessed the speed at which the flames enveloped Grenfell on June 14 last year, and said there is no doubt they would flee immediately if there was a fire in their tower block.

Marcus John, 28, who lives in Dixon House, said: ‘I lost two cousins in the Grenfell fire. This advice should be changed after what happened. It’s nearly a year on since the tragedy and nothing has changed.’

A resident of Hazlewood Tower added: ‘The ‘stay put’ policy is absolutely criminal. It would be suicide to stay in the flat if there was a fire. This advice is just madness. I would just leave the building. I would disregard the advice on the wall.

‘They should review what they are telling people. The fire brigade came to visit the block last year. They told us the best thing to do is stay in our flats. But I don’t think this is the right thing to do.’

A woman who gave her name only as Gloria, who lives on the 19th floor of Frinstead House, said: ‘I saw the Grenfell fire from beginning to end. I saw people jumping to their deaths.

‘I never thought I would see something like that in my life. It will stay with me my whole life. If there was a fire and I stayed in this building I would end up jumping to my death like they did.

‘The people who run this block keep threatening residents with fines for dog mess, but they don’t seem interested in fire safety.

‘We don’t even have a proper fire escape.’

Prior to the Grenfell blaze, tower block residents were told to stay put because the perceived wisdom is that fires in individual flats can usually be contained.

But the use of flammable cladding on the outside of Grenfell – installed as a cheaper option during a refurbishment programme in 2015 – caused the fire that started on the fourth floor to spread at an alarming rate until it engulfed the entire building, with dense plumes of black smoke filling corridors and the only staircase. An in-depth exposé by the London Review of Books last week concluded that the ‘stay put’ advice ’caused nearly all of the 72 deaths’.

Kensington and Chelsea Council, which was responsible for Grenfell, said it continues to tell residents to ‘stay put’ in all its tower blocks on the advice of fire chiefs as none of the outside walls on its high-rises has cladding.

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: ‘Our advice remains the same, and that is to stay put if a fire breaks out in another part of the building and you are not being affected by the fire, heat or smoke.

‘If you leave your flat you could be rushing into dangerous smoke, the fire itself or firefighters using equipment to bring the fire under control in another part of the building.

‘Stay put advice may be temporarily suspended for a limited number of buildings with [flammable] cladding.’

The fire brigade added that there are about 100 buildings in London where the ‘stay put’ advice has been suspended.

Grenfell’s ground zero: But what did start the horror? 

By David Wilkes for The Daily Mail 

Released for the first time yesterday, these images reveal the charred and mangled remains of the inside of the flat where the Grenfell Tower inferno began.

Walls and ceilings are blackened and kitchen appliances sit scorched and warped out of shape inside fire-ravaged flat 16 on the fourth floor.

What was left of the fridge freezer – which it was previously suggested by police was to blame – is visible, along with the washing machine, microwave and other items, including one identified in an official report as ‘possible kettle’ and another as ‘possible toaster’.

Sliding doors which separated the kitchen from the living room, which was reduced to the same ghostly appearance, are gone.

Niamh Nic Daeid, Professor of Forensic Science at the Leverhulme Research Centre at the University of Dundee, made two visits to Grenfell, during which she was provided with access to flat 16.

In a report released yesterday, she told how firefighters also captured images of the inside of flat 16 on the night of the fire with a thermal imaging camera.

The bedroom: The fire tore through the house in Grenfell tower

The bedroom: The fire tore through the house in Grenfell tower

The living room: Furniture destroyed by the flames lies in tatters

The living room: Furniture destroyed by the flames lies in tatters

The kitchen: Worktops lie in tatters after the flames engulfed the flat

The kitchen: Worktops lie in tatters after the flames engulfed the flat

Firefighter Daniel Brown, who broke down the door of the two-bedroom flat, said that ‘black smoke billowed out’.

Professor Daeid said it was possible to say that the origin of the fire was in the southeast corner of the kitchen and that ‘it is more likely than not that this was in or around the area of the tall fridge freezer’. 

But she said there was insufficient information to pinpoint the cause of the fire. 

 



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