Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
‘I carry Jessica in my heart, with everything I do’
FIREFIGHTER REFLECTS ON HOW GRENFELL CHANGED HIM
THE first firefighter to walk into Grenfell Tower has spoken of his ongoing heartbreak for the 72 lost lives – and of his anger towards a government “dragging its heels” as families seek justice.
David Badillo is not just a firefighter at nearby North Kensington Fire Station, he has been a member of the community surrounding the Grenfell area for more than 30 years.
He boxed at the club attached to the tower and, as a teen, was a lifeguard at Kensington Leisure Centre, a stone’s throw from Grenfell. It was at this sports centre where, three decades later, bodies and the injured would be taken as the biggest UK fire since World War Two ripped through the West London tower block.
At that sports centre David had worked with Manfred “Manny” Ruiz and they had remained friends. They would develop an even stronger bond after the events of June 14, 2017.
During the night that changed his life, and so many lives, forever, David resuscitated a woman as she lay lifeless on the floor. And he covered the dead body of a man who, in desperation, had jumped from the tower. When a girl asked him to search for her sister on the 20th floor, David did not hesitate.
He took a lift, which stopped at floor 15, but was met with thick smoke. He returned down stairs and then made it up to the 20th floor with breathing apparatus and two colleagues to search for the child. But the girl, 12-year-old Jessica Urbano, was not there. His colleague’s oxygen supply warning sounded and they had to retreat downstairs.
Jessica had gone up to the 23rd floor, where she died. It was not until the following day that David, 49, was told who the girl was. It was then that he realised Jessica was the niece of his old friend, Manny.
“The next day I saw a post from her two uncles saying they were searching for her. I phoned one of them and they said Jessica was still missing. That’s when I put two and two together,” he said.
David attended Jessica’s funeral and formed a guard of honour with other firefighters. Something he arranged and carried out on three occasions at funerals of Grenfell victims.
“Jessica’s funeral was probably the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” he recalled. Jessica’s mum gave David a card which included a picture of Jessica, and a poem written for her funeral.
“I still carry that with me today in my wallet,” David told the Mirror, speaking ahead of the five-year anniversary of the tragedy.
“I go and visit her early in the mornings on her birthday. I carry Jessica in my heart, with everything I do. I have always got Jessica with me. I never met her, but I’ve got this love for this little girl I never met. It’s the connection I have with her family. They’re the most beautiful family.
“From day one they supported me. Days after the fire I remember hugging them and I couldn’t understand why they were hugging me and telling me how much they loved me and that I was their hero. But I didn’t even find her. I didn’t get to her. I found it really difficult.
“Without them and without knowing how they felt I think I probably would have been a very different person. It means more to me than anything I can think of. Firefighters made some really difficult decisions in really difficult moments and I’ll never take for granted the relationship I have with Jessica’s family.”
David says it is vital Grenfell is still talked about so the government ‘cannot brush it under the carpet.’ He is furious the government is not set to implement a key recommendation from phase one of the inquiry, to scrap the stay-put policy.
In a consultation document published last month, the Home Office said the cost of adopting the Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) would not be “proportionate” and not “practical” or “safe” to implement.
David said: “This is my community and the Grenfell fire is just so much bigger than everything else to me,” he said. “I stand in total solidarity with the community. Without justice there’s never going to be any peace for this community and we’re going to keep fighting and I’m 1,000 per cent with them on that. I’m absolutely disgusted with where we’re at in terms of the inquiry.
“I think the government wants to drag this out so it fades in people’s memories. And then they ignore the recommendations? PEEPS are essential for vulnerable people in high rise buildings. It’s shameful and this is part of the reason I have no confidence in the inquiry anymore. Forty-one per cent of disabled people died in Grenfell. They have an equal right to life.
“And they’re looking for any excuse not to help them. What’s the whole use of the inquiry if the government can just come out and say ‘nah – we won’t do that recommendation – it’s too expensive’? Westminster has been de-regulating for 30 years – all parties have a part to blame – and now we’re in the middle of this cladding crisis with people still living in unsafe buildings.
“How have there not been arrests? Companies falsified cladding tests. The evidence is damning. I’m so angry and I’m just a firefighter who was there on the night – imagine if you’re bereaved or a survivor?”
He has since thrown himself into helping the community. Along with Carlos, Manny’s brother, he started selling T-shirts to raise money for survivors. He ran the London Marathon with Manny last year for the same purpose and also did a charity swim in 2019.