Grenfell Inquiry day 70: police evidence

In a written statement for the inquiry, Mr Thatcher said: “All of my actions and decisions that night were taken against the backdrop of imminent death – all the time I was within the area that was eventually cordoned I fully expected the building to collapse resulting in my death and the death of the officers and public around me.”

Mr Thatcher declared the blaze a major police incident while on his way to the fire after seeing a flame shoot outwards and “directly up the side of the building as far as the roof”.

By the time he arrived at Grenfell Tower, he said the entire south side of the building was completely alight and that there “was a constant rain of burning objects coming from the top and sides of the building, some looked small, some seemed to be large and rectangular”.

He said today that he has “no idea” how the tower did not collapse – and that the sound of debris coming from the building was “like a cliff coming down”.

Because of his fears about collapse and to clear space for fire engines and ambulances, Mr Thatcher said he set up a police cordon to keep members of the public away from the tower, with some bereaved people allowed through.

He described the difficulty of keeping people back with limited numbers of police officers and said some officers were spat on or verbally abused by people in the crowd.

But he said if people had been allowed to enter the tower there would have been “chaos and increased death”.

In a second witness statement, he said: “Throughout the night the crowd were exhibiting the whole range of human emotions from despair to rage and this made it almost impossible to deal with them as a whole entity as each individual had a different need and so needed to be treated accordingly.”

Mr Thatcher told the inquiry he ordered that the nearby blocks of Barandon Walk and Treadgold House be evacuated – including by using battering rams to check flats – over fears about flaming debris blowing towards them from the tower.

And he said that one of his officers broke down a door to a sports centre for use as a morgue after the police were unable to get keys from Kensington and Chelsea Council.

He described the scene by the tower during the night as “like a Hollywood movie”.

“I remember wondering why the tree I was by was not bending in the strong wind I could hear. Then I realised it was not the wind but screams from all around,” he said.

Finishing his evidence, he paid tribute to the work of the local community in the wake of the fire.

In the second part of today’s evidence, commander Neil Jerome gave evidence.

Mr Jerome took over as gold commander at 4.10am, working from a “special operations room” in Lambeth, south London.

He was told there were already at least four people dead by this time.

Many of the questions to Mr Jerome related to 999 calls fielded by call handlers working for the Met.

Documents released today show that advice to residents about whether to stay put or attempt to leave changed throughout the night.

One call handler also told a resident to try to get the attention of the police helicopter above the tower – despite the fact that it was being used to capture thermal images and not to rescue people.

Mr Jerome defended call handlers and the circumstances in which they were operating, but said he did not know why a 999 operator said this.