Fire chief sobs at Grenfell film

A SENIOR firefighter who led the Grenfell rescue operation broke down yesterday as he admitted he did not know the building was covered in combustible cladding.

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick closed the hearing early after Michael Dowden was overcome with emotion.

Mr Dowden, the watch manager at North Kensington fire station in west London when the blaze broke out on June 14 last year, needed two extra breaks after watching video clips of the spreading flames. Mr Dowden had previously admitted to the inquiry he was not trained to evacuate tower blocks with elderly, very young or infirm residents. He also did not know how to suspend the “stay put” policy ordering residents to remain in their homes, thought to have increased the death toll to 72.

Yesterday, Mr Dowden said despite having inspected Grenfell Tower previously, he did not know it had combustible cladding. Inquiry counsel Richard Millett QC asked him: “Could you see that the exterior of the building was covered in a cladding envelope?” Mr Dowden replied: “At that point I wasn’t aware it was cladding...I thought it was the external part of Grenfell Tower.”

He said on the night of the tragedy, crews found that a fire lift was not working, posing a “real risk” to residents, and firefighters could not get water to the upper floors of the tower, where many victims were trapped and ultimately died.