‘I was trapped for five hours in the Grenfell inferno...now I want justice’
BLAZE SURVIVOR APPEALS FOR TRUTH ABOUT DISASTER
A GRENFELL survivor who was trapped for five hours has appealed for “people to be brought to justice”.
Antonio Roncolato was one of the last to be rescued from the inferno last June.
And he is urging the Government to get to the truth about what happened, to honour the 71 residents who died.
Antonio said: “People have to be brought to justice because this can never happen again.
“If we don’t do this it means those people have died in vain.”
Since the blaze on June 14 last year in North Kensington, London, a Government inquiry has been set up to “prevent a similar tragedy happening again”.
It has emerged cladding used on the 24-storey tower in west London failed to meet safety standards.
Italian Antonio was in his flat on the 10th floor when the blaze broke out just before 1am.
Within minutes, his son Christopher arrived home from a night out and phoned to alert him.
Recalling the moment, Antonio said: “He thought maybe that was my ending there because the tower was really burning heavily.
“I said to myself, ‘Antonio you’re in big trouble here, you have to focus. You have to concentrate and you have to be cool’.”
Moments later Antonio spoke to a firefighter and was told to stay in his flat.
But three hours after the blaze had started, he was still there.
He said: “I realised that there was a lot of smoke coming through the window ledges into my flat. My living room, bedroom, filled up with smoke.
“That was totally horrible to breathe and to be in. Then I realised that yes, I had a big problem.”
At 6am – more than five hours after the fire had started – Antonio got another call to say he would be rescued.
He said: “At that point I was ready. I made sure that I had shoes properly tied up and that I had a proper jacket on.
“Two firemen knocked at the door.
“One told me, ‘I’m going to be in the front, you’re going to hold on to me…hold my jacket with your left hand and my colleague will be at the back protecting you’.
“The firemen put a wet towel on me. I had a wet towel in my hand. He asked me, ‘Are you ready?’ and basically we went down very fast, really very fast.”
Against all the odds Antonio had survived and was reunited with Christopher. He said: “I was very relieved. I was very happy. I was extremely thankful to the guys that rescued me.
“I knew deep inside that I would make it out and that they would come. I had faith.
“I said thank you to all the people around me basically. Because at the end of the day, if I’m here it’s because they rescued me.”
Antonio tells his story on James Nesbitt’s series Disasters That Changed Britain.
See the full interview tomorrow at 9pm on History. came. They