Harrowing footage shows speed of blaze
SHOCKING amateur video footage showed yesterday the ferocious speed at which the Grenfell Tower inferno engulfed the building.
The public inquiry into the tragedy was played a harrowing montage of videos assembled from eyewitnesses in which the fire can be seen to tear through the building in a matter of minutes.
Flammable window frames and polyethylene cladding burst into flames before the blaze reached the top of the building.
A video shot at 1:08am shows fire coming from the window of flat 16 on June 4 last year.
Just four minutes later at 1:12am the fire had begun to engulf the building.
By 1:26am the blaze had taken hold and burning debris can be seen raining down on the streets below as people stand helpless and screaming. At 1:29am the fire had engulfed all 25-storeys and ripped through the 129 flats of the doomed tower block. It caused at least 72 deaths, and over 70 injuries
In one part of the footage a man can be heard shouting: “I told you, I told you get out”.
In another someone can be heard saying, “Oh my God” as pieces of debris tumble from the burning tower block.
Dozens of people listening to the eighth full day of the inquiry in London left the room and two collapsed after becoming distressed when the shocking footage was shown.
After the video was played inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said: “It is truly shocking, every time you see it.
“It strikes you in a very similar way, very strongly.”