Some Grenfell rescue decisions ‘made no sense’

A GRENFELL firefighter yesterday revealed his “annoyance” at officers questioning decisions made during the chaotic rescue operation.

Glynn Williams, a watch manager from Fulham who coordinated 999 call information at the foot of the block, described scenes of escalating horror on June 14 last year.

In a written account to the Grenfell Tower inquiry, the officer of 18 years’ service said he struggled to keep track of who had been rescued.

He had been handed slips of paper with information provided by residents during fire survival guidance (FSG) calls to 999, which he wrote on a wall.

The sheer number of calls soon overwhelmed him, as crews had no training on safely rescuing someone through “a toxic environment 20-plus floors high”.

At various points, Mr Williams described being “annoyed” by the conduct of other officers and felt certain operational decisions “made no sense”.

He said “verbal conflict” took place between two senior officers between 4am and 4.30am, he wrote, with one of them becoming “upset”, and claimed the group manager walked off as he tried to show him the information.

His account also told how children were telling firefighters the fates of their families as their grasp of English was better. He said: “There was a woman carrying a little boy. As the woman walked passed me crying, I asked them where the rest of their family were, to which the little boy said: ‘All dead’.”

The hearing yesterday was given an account of residents being “manhandled” down the stairs by fire crews exhibiting signs of heat stress.

Mr Williams said many crew members wearing breathing apparatus suits had returned from upper floors low on oxygen and badly fatigued. The chaotic evacuation meant it was not obvious which survivor had come from which flat, he indicated, making it hard to keep track of who still needed saving.

The inquiry continues.