Nothing could stop spread of Grenfell inferno

Boss defends fire brigade’s actions

A FIRE chief has said that as soon as she stepped out of her car at the Grenfell Tower inferno she realised the blaze was “unfightable”.

Commissioner Dany Cotton also told the inquiry into the tragedy: “I would not change anything we did on the night.”

She said colleagues “performed in a fantastic way given the incredible circumstances they were faced against”.

Ms Cotton added that she was almost hit by a 6ft piece of burning debris that fell from the building.

She said so much of it was raining down “it was like being under attack”.

The London Fire Brigade chief also defended its “stay put” advice issued to the residents in the building.

She said it is usually the safest course of action, but that the tower “behaved in a way it should never have done”.

It was covered in flammable cladding but Ms Cotton, 49, added: “I truly don’t think it would have benefited anyone to have more detailed knowledge about cladding…because it wouldn’t have enabled them to extinguish the fire.” She said they faced such an “unrealistic scenario” trying to prepare for it would have been like training for a “space shuttle to land in front of the Shard”.

Ms Cotton compared what she saw on June 14 last year to the 9/11 tragedy.

She said firefighters collapsed in tears in her arms at the scene. She added she has suffered memory loss in relation to some of the traumatic events.

When she arrived at 2.49am, the fire, which started at around 1am, had all but engulfed the 23-storey block in Kensington, West London.

Experts have told the inquiry the stayput policy had failed by 1.26am, but it was not abandoned until 2.47am. It has been said if people had evacuated immediately it would have saved lives.

Natasha Elcock, of Grenfell United, said: “To hear Dany Cotton say she would not have done anything differently is heartbreaking and feels disrespectful to 72 people who lost their lives.”

The inquiry at Holborn Bars, in Central London, continues.