Call for senior firefighters to be prosecuted over Grenfell inferno
on the fire brigade’s conduct, giving distressing accounts of their escape from the blaze, and communicating their belief that their loved ones could have been saved had they not been advised to stay put in their flats.
Paulos Tekle, whose son Isaac (5) died after they were separated as they fled their 18th-floor flat, said he believed that had they not been advised by firefighters not to evacuate, his child would still be alive.
“A firefighter came to our door, knocked on our door, and advised us to stay. He left us. We were inside. My friend on the other side of the block kept advising us to leave,” he said. “We believed the firefighter who told us to stay. So we stayed. We were hoping they would save us because we trusted them.”
Shah Aghlani, whose disabled mother Sakina Afrasehabi
and aunt Fatima Afrasehabi perished in the fire, said he did not want individual firefighters who “risked their lives” to be prosecuted, but that “cultural change” was needed within the London Fire Brigade to prevent a repeat of Grenfell.
Mr Aghlani’s sister Nazanin said senior officers in the LFB should be prosecuted, arguing that they should be treated as
“professionals not heroes”. She added: “I’m not saying individual firefighters should be. They do a good job, bless them, and they don’t get paid that well. But senior firefighters should be held to account.”
The LFB was defended by politicians who said it is unfair to pin the blame on the fire service, while firefighters said they felt “scapegoated” by ministers.
Ricky Nuttal, a firefighter with 14 years’ experience who tackled the Grenfell blaze, said he had “expected to be let down and made a scapegoat by the Government”, but that it still “hurts”.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “absolutely vital” that individuals and organisations were held to account for the errors highlighted in the report.
He also pledged that ministers would “legislate accordingly” on the report’s recommendation that responsibility for fire safety should be taken on my central Government.