Grenfell Inquiry day 66: survivor says ‘broken system’ shouldn’t be fixed with ‘sticking plaster’

Mr Burton was living on the 19th floor with his wife Maria del Pilar Burton when the fire broke out on 14 June.

Both escaped the tower on the night but Mrs Burton was taken to hospital after falling unconscious during the rescue. Mrs Burton died of a stroke in January this year.

Mr Burton said: “No disrespect to inquiry, but it is a system from the government of the day to save embarrassment, we will have an inquiry to get to the truth and time lapses and we hopefully get to the bottom of it and find truth, but this over a long period of time.

“We have sat with the Hillsborough families, we have spent time with Doreen Lawrence and time with people around the country talking to them and they are scared of living in tower blocks with that cladding; the system is not working.”

Mr and Mrs Burton’s flat on the 11^th floor was one of the 14 flats in the building not to have their doors replaced in 2011.

Mr Burton had turned down the offer from the TMO to replace his door, due to the £1,000 cost of having the work done.

In his witness statement, Mr Burton said that he had a “solid fire door” which let very little smoke into the flat during the fire.

He added that the door was in “good condition”, “was sturdy”, “had a good frame” and “performed well” during the fire.

According to Dr Barbara Lane’s report published in June as part of the inquiry, 106 fire doors were replaced in the Grenfell Tower in 2011, while 14 were left unchanged.

In the report, Dr Lane found that the replacement fire doors were non-compliant with building regulations and there were discrepancies between evidence of the doors fire performance and the way they were constructed and installed.

She also found that new fire doors were different to those tested by their manufacturer, Manse Masterdor, with different ironmongery and some including glazing.

Dr Lane concluded that the original construction properties of the original fire doors like the one at Mr Burton’s flat was unknown, so she could not determine if they were compliant at the time or their fire performance.

The inquiry also heard evidence from Helen Gebremaskel, who lived with her daughter in flat 186 on the 22^nd floor. Both Ms Gebremaskel’s and her daughter survived, but six members of the Choucair family, which lived in flats 191 and 193, died as a result of the fire.

Ms Gebremaskel’s described the Choucairs as “like an extended family”.

In evidence submitted to the inquiry, Ms Gebraskel said that the numbering of floors, which was put out of sequence following renovations in 2015, could have led to confusion in the fire services rescue operation.

Ms Gebremaskel’s evidence said: “After the renovations this became incorrect and out of sequence, due to the Tower having additional floors added at a later date. This meant that the flat we lived in had originally been on floor 18 but now it became floor 21.

“It almost certainly would have caused confusion to fire fighters, however, because people calling from floors were likely referring to the floor number according to the lift, but not the floor number according to the stairs. The fire fighters would have been using the stairs to locate which floor they were coming to.”