Grenfell TV footage changed stay-put policy

Television footage showing the side of Grenfell Tower engulfed by flames was the “influencing factor” that led to changing the stay-put policy, a senior officer said.

Adrian Fenton said he went “straight upstairs” to discuss changing the advice with Joanne Smith, senior operations manager, after seeing the side of the tower “fully engulfed in fire” on TV. The deputy assistant commissioner caught his first glimpse of the scene on the news when he left the control room to go downstairs to the brigade co-ordination centre. The television upstairs had been deliberately left off so as not to further distress call room operators.