Get out Dad, the tower’s on fire!
Son sent phone warning - and THIS picture - to father on 10th floor... who survived by staying put
ONE of the last survivors to escape the Grenfell Tower disaster was woken by a frantic phone call from his distraught son telling him to get out, an inquiry heard yesterday.
Antonio Roncolato, 58, who was repeatedly told to stay inside the burning building, only realised the scale of the inferno when his son sent him a picture from outside.
Beaten back by smoke and flames, the restaurant manager remained in his tenth-floor flat and was eventually rescued by firefighters some five hours after the blaze began.
Yesterday he gave a detailed account of how he fought to survive, saying: ‘I knew one mistake would be fatal.’
He had been told again and again to stay put, including by a firefighter who appeared outside his flat window.
The London Fire Brigade has faced sustained criticism for its policy of telling residents to remain inside their flats and wait for rescue rather than attempt to escape the inferno.
Mr Roncolato was asleep when the fire started last year and was woken by a phone call from his son Christopher, who told him: ‘Get out of the house, the tower’s burning, I love you Pappy, get out.’
He said he could hear people screaming outside – some shouting ‘ get out’, others imploring residents to stay put.
The Italian father-of-one tried to leave his flat but said he was beaten back by thick black smoke as soon as he opened his front door.
He said: ‘It was pitch black. My eyes were stinging, I was almost crying. It was impossible to breathe… it was suffocating.’
Mr Roncolato said he only realised the scale of the disaster back in his flat when his son sent him a mobile phone picture he had taken showing flames engulfing the 23-storey block.
He said: ‘I was stunned at this photo and how advanced the
‘One mistake would be fatal’
fire appeared to be. I then really started to focus on how to get out of the tower alive. I knew one mistake would be fatal.’ His son called him again and put a firefighter on the phone, who told him to stay inside and that he would be rescued.
Mr Roncolato told a public inquiry into the tragedy that he felt ‘reassured’ and began to focus on survival strategies.
Having noticed smoke was pouring in through vents in bedroom windows, he placed wet towels and bedsheets around all the windows. Yesterday he said: ‘Thank God it worked.’ Mr Roncolato also told how flames were ‘crawling’ along cladding which had been fitted to the outside of the tower during a £9million council refurbishment.
He tried to escape again but said there was so much smoke that he feared he would die on his way to the stairs.
Mr Roncolato returned to his flat and called the night manager at the hotel where he worked to say he would not be able to come in. He then ate some porridge for breakfast. At one point he saw a fireman outside his window, aiming a hose at the tower from a ladder or platform. The firefighter said it was too dangerous for him to get closer because of debris falling from the tower, adding: ‘Mate, stay put, someone will come and get you.’
Two firefighters with breathing apparatus eventually came to his door around 6am, more than five hours after the fire began.
Mr Roncolato grabbed his son’s swimming goggles to protect his eyes and said the firefighters put a wet towel over his head to protect him. This effectively blinded him as they led him down the stairs, he said. He was taken to hospital and yesterday said he considered himself ‘lucky’ to have survived.
However, he questioned why it had taken so long for firefighters to be sent to rescue him.
His son Christopher, who was working when the fire broke out, said he was angry his father had been given conflicting advice.
The inquiry heard transcripts of 999 calls in which Mr Roncolato repeatedly asked for help, saying he did not want to risk doing ‘something heroic’.
The blaze, which killed 72, was the worst on British soil since the Second World War.
The public inquiry, which is expected to hear evidence from other survivors over the next month, continues.