Fleeing Grenfell, the man whose fridge ‘started blaze’
THE man whose fridge-freezer was blamed for starting the Grenfell fire woke his neighbours and urged them to flee before running out barefoot.
Behailu Kebede, 45, left the tower block with only his phone, trousers and a T-shirt – and lost all his belongings in the fire.
A London Fire Brigade report published yesterday by the independent inquiry into the blaze said the first 999 call came at 0.54am from Mr Kebede, who reported smoke coming from behind a fridgefreezer in his fourth floor flat.
The distraught Uber driver was seen on CCTV footage urgently trying to warn his neighbours of the danger.
The report also revealed that a senior fireman spotted cladding burning on the outside of Grenfell Tower more than 90 minutes before terrified residents were finally told to evacuate. Watch manager Michael Dowden saw the cladding ‘sparking and spitting like magnesium’ just 18 minutes after the first 999 call and noted: ‘The external cladding appears to be burning.’
The officer said the apparent spread of the fire was ‘making me feel uncomfortable’, but residents were told to ‘stay put’ and wait for rescue for another hour and 35 minutes before the controversial policy was abandoned at 2.47am.
Some firefighters did appear to have ignored the policy, as a team reached the sixth floor at 1.44am and began ‘banging on doors and shouting to get people out’.
The report detailed extraordinary tales of heroism by firefighters, including one who tried to put out the fire by hanging out of a fourth floor window with a hose.
The inquiry continues.