Grenfell response was ‘inadequate’

FEWER people were likely to have died in the Grenfell Tower fire had residents been evacuated while it was still possible, an official report into the tragedy said.

The public inquiry’s first report into the blaze, due to be published tomorrow, identified “systemic” failures by the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The report adds there may have been fewer deaths if “serious shortcomings” had not plagued the fire service’s response.

It also accused the brigade’s commissioner Dany Cotton of “remarkable insensitivity” after she said she would not have done anything differently on the night, in which 72 people died.

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin MooreBick said fewer people may have died if key decisions had been made earlier, and made a number of recommendations following the two-year investigation.

Sir Martin said the decision to evacuate “could and should have been made between 1.30am and 1.50am” and would be likely to have resulted in fewer fatalities. He said the LFB’s preparation and planning for a fire such as that at Grenfell Tower was

“gravely inadequate”. In the report, Sir Martin said the “principal reason” the flames shot up the building at such speed was the combustible aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding with polyethylene cores which acted as a “source of fuel”.

The report also concluded the fire started as the result of an “electrical fault in a large fridge-freezer” in a fourth-floor flat.

Sir Martin said Behailu Kebede, who had lived in the flat, bore no blame for the fire.

Survivors had previously urged the judge to make a point of formally exonerating the resident, who was offered police protection after false reports of his culpability circulated.

An LFB spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to comment.

Tributes left.