Fire service stands by its advice to ‘stay put’ in flats
LONDON Fire Brigade’s actions on the night of the blaze will come under intense scrutiny when the Grenfell inquiry hears evidence next month.
Sir Martin Moore-bick, the inquiry chairman, said that the first hearings would examine, among other things, “the chain of events before the decision was made that there was no further saveable life in the building; and the evacuation of residents”.
The “stay put” guidance that was issued to Grenfell residents is standard in high-rise flats across the country.
In the event of fire, residents are advised to remain in their home unless they are directly affected by “fire, heat or smoke”.
Experts believe the advice remains sound in residential blocks where flats are “compartmentalised”, and properly designed and built to prevent the spread of fire. LFB advice remains that in leaving a “safe” flat, an occupant could be “rushing into dangerous smoke, the fire itself or firefighters using equipment to bring the fire under control”.
In the case of Grenfell, the fire spread at speed, aided by flammable cladding and other defects following a multimillion-pound refurbishment.
LFB said it could not comment on the decisions taken as investigations and the inquiry continued. But The Daily Telegraph understands that senior fire officers realised within around 10 minutes that the blaze was not being contained. By about 1.15am, the “stay put and safely remain” strategy was replaced with “stay put and await rescue”, according to a source.
Dave Sibert, the Fire Brigades Union’s fire safety adviser and chairman of a national committee on fire safety standards, said: “If the fire service had not put in place ‘stay put and await to be rescued’ right from the start and in- stead said ‘every man for himself ’ then you could say that some of those 72 who died might have survived. But some of those 60-odd people the fire service rescued might have died if they had been running around the building without the help of a firefighter.”
Gareth Bacon, the Conservative group leader on the London Assembly and a former chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said: “I have seen or heard nothing to suggest that the fire service did anything other than conduct themselves with great distinction.”
A senior firefighter said it was understandable that families were looking to blame the service among others. “In their shoes I would be exploring why my loved one wasn’t rescued but I really don’t see what else could be done,” said the source. An LFB spokesman said: “Our advice remains the same and that is to ‘stay put’ if a fire breaks out in another part of the building.”