Survivor tells of 5-hour wait to be saved in Grenfell blaze
ONE of the last residents to escape the Grenfell Tower inferno alive told yesterday how he was trapped in his 10th floor flat for nearly five hours before being rescued.
Hotel worker Antonio Roncolato, 58, tried several times to flee to safety but thick black smoke forced him to retreat.
Trapped in his home while the blaze engulfed the 24-storey building, Mr Roncolato sat eating porridge in a bid to try to steady himself and to give him energy.
Mr Roncolato, who had lived in Grenfell Tower for 27 years, told the hearing: “I kept thinking if I remained calm and acted rationally that I would come out of this alive.”
He even called the night manager at the hotel where he worked as a waiter to tell him he wouldn’t be able to make it in because he was trapped inside his flat.
The manager replied that he should “get the hell out of there”.
Mr Roncolato said he had been told by fire officials in “very determined words” not to try a risky escape on his own.
Slippery
He was told rescuers were aware he was there and they would “come and get me”.
But it was not until 6am that two firefighters in breathing apparatus made it to his flat.
Mr Roncolato said he could see nothing as he made his way out and was reliant on the firefighters to guide him down.
At one point one of the firefighters helped free him after his leg became trapped under an object.
He said: “I could feel a lot of debris and what felt like mud under my feet.
“There was water and debris coming down from above us and the stairs were wet and slippery.
“I could hear water cascading down the stairs. I was completely drenched by the time I left the building.”
Mr Roncolato told the inquiry that windows installed during the recent refurbishment of the building which also saw it fitted with inflammable cladding had allowed deadly smoke to pour into his flat despite them being closed.
The first survivor to give evidence to the public inquiry into the Grenfell disaster, he said he owed his life to his son Christopher.
Mr Roncolato went to bed at around 10pm after finishing a work shift and was awoken at 1.40am when the youngster returned after a night out and called him to alert him to the horror unfolding around him.
Christopher, 27, told him: “Get out of the house, the tower’s burning, I love you, Pappy, get out.”
A text from his son showing a photo of the building in flames made him realise the danger he was in.
Mr Roncolato told the inquiry: “We have lost everything.
“I was one of the lucky ones, especially after being trapped for so long. I could have so easily been one of the 72 people that needlessly died.
“If it had not been for Christopher calling me, I would not have known about the fire.”
Over the next month other survivors along with relatives of those who died will be called to relive their memories of the night of June 14 last year. Photo of fire sent to Antonio by his son