Grenfell Inquiry day 28: ‘the building didn’t do its job’ says firefighter

A firefighter involved in rescue efforts at Grenfell has said the building “didn’t do its job” and “beat us”.

Paul Watson, station officer at Hammersmith fire station, said in written evidence to the inquiry that he believed once the fire had caught the cladding that even with a lot more firefighter they still would not have extinguished the fire.

At the height of the incident around 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines attended the tragic blaze at the 24-storey tower.

“I came away thinking that we lost the battle and the building beat us,” Mr Watson wrote. “I know we saved a lot of people but I know we lost a lot of people.”

Giving evidence in person today at the inquiry Mr Watson, who has 26 years experience with the fire service, revealed his efforts to find a central fire alarm system in the tower to alert the residents. When questioned he acknowledged it was unusual for a high rise not to have a central fire alarm system. “A lot of people would have been asleep so that would have alerted them,” he said.

He also revealed that at one point a man identifying himself as an “American firefighter” wielding an axe offered to help with the rescue efforts. Mr Watson said: “He came in and said there are people threatening to jump. He said ‘where are the exits I need to smash in every exit in the building’. He was very animated but he wasn’t going to do any good being in there so I removed him from the lobby.”

Much of the questioning today at the inquiry focussed on the communication between London Fire Brigade officers as the fire unfolded.

Mr Watson, whose job on the night was helping co-ordinate fire crews in and out of the building, admitted that he was not aware at any point that the stay-put advice to residents had been abandoned.

“On that night, I don’t know if that policy changed, I never had that information,” he wrote in his evidence. “It wouldn’t have changed what I was doing inside anyway.”

Later, station manager Gareth Cook told the story of how he spoke to a woman trapped inside Grenfell Tower after being handed a mobile phone by her husband. He advised her to stay put and that the fire brigade would “come and get her”. Mr Cook said today he believed he spoke to her between 1.46am and 1.59am.

Earlier this month, it emerged that the stay put advice was in place until 2.47am.

Mr Cook, who has 20 years of service with the London Fire Brigade, acted as press liaison officer in the early hours of the fire. Despite his experience, he admitted today: “I’ve never seen a fire do that externally on a high rise, I was almost in a state of shock.”

Mr Cook later helped with the rescue effort in Grenfell Tower and described conditions in the building as “like working in an oven”.