ABANDONED TO DIE
Why WERE the victims told to stay put and wait for help as fire took hold?
THE row over safety advice that may have condemned scores to die in Grenfell Tower escalated last night.
Survivors said they escaped only by ignoring official advice from 999 operators to stay in their flats and wait for help.
Some householders waited for more than three hours until they decided to take their chance and make a desperate run for safety. Others were not so fortunate and died in their homes after following advice to stay put.
Emergency call operators, officials on megaphones and building signs all urged tenants to stay in their homes when the fire broke out at 12.50am on Wednesday.
Many were left trapped for up to three hours, desperately screaming for help before succumbing to the inferno.
One grieving relative said a family was ‘wiped out’ after refusing to leave, while another woman said she ‘will never listen to officers again’.
Such was the ferocity of the blaze that police are warning they may never be able to identify some of the victims.
Those responsible for the safety of tenants faced urgent questions about why the fire spread so quickly through the 24-storey block.
Fire Brigade Union safety expert David Sibert said: ‘The principle that tower blocks are built on is that every flat is a fire-resisting box – every flat is completely surrounded by fire-resisting construction from the rest of the building.
‘So you should be able to set fire to your own flat and leave it to completely burn out and it won’t affect anybody else in the building.’
The fact that this did not happen at Grenfell Tower will be a key element of the investigation.
Waewta Suparuksanond, 62, who had lived on the 10th floor for 31 years, said she waited to be rescued for three hours before fleeing at 4am. The suffocating smoke left her struggling to breathe and shouting from the window as an emergency operator told her to wait for help.
‘Finally the firefighters came to help,’ she said. ‘This is a big lesson. I will never listen to the 999 officer who told me to stay put any more. If this happens again, I have to run.
‘It was like being in a cave, it was pitch dark. The firefighters put on a mask, we used a towel to cover our nose – we couldn’t breathe and we vomited. It’s good luck to be alive.’
Grenfell Tower had an official ‘stay put’ policy telling residents to blockade themselves inside flats and wait to be rescued.
A furious relative said he believed Abdul Wahabi, 52, his wife Fouzia and their three children aged between eight and 20 died after refusing to leave.
Cousin Otman Boujettif, 42, added emergency workers could not reach them in their 21st-floor flat.
‘An entire family’s been wiped out,’ he said. ‘We spoke to them at about 1.30am but they’d been told by the fire brigade to stay in their flat, put towels down, wet the floors and wait.
‘There was so much misinformation being spread at such a vital stage. Some people were told to stay, others to leave.
‘They were breaking fast for Ramadan, so they were awake, but they followed the wrong advice and now they are gone. It’s devastating.’
The family of retired lorry driver Tony Disson, 66, who lived on the 22nd floor, said he too was told to stay in his flat.
Graphic designer James Wood, 32, said: ‘The fire service and the police were like headless chickens and people were told to stay in their flats
‘It was too late – they were trapped’
– at one stage a megaphone was used. But 20 minutes later the fire had become so fierce they were telling people to get out. By that time, it was too late and they were trapped and screaming from the windows.’
Fay Edwards, of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which managed the block, insisted ‘people were safer standing in their flats’.
She said: ‘I think it would be sensible because I don’t know how dangerous flats might be for people coming down. Also, then they know where people are if they stay in their flats.’
Last night the London Fire Brigade declined to comment, saying all questions were now a matter for the public inquiry.