What she said
ON THE MENTAL IMPACT OF THE FIRE...
‘I had such poor recall of the night’s events and I’d hoped they would improve. I have subsequently undergone counselling with a view to improving my memory recall’
ON WHAT SHE SAW ON ARRIVING AT THE TOWER... ‘This is like nothing I’ve ever seen, like something from a film. My first thought was this can never happen in a building in England’
ON ENTERING THE TOWER...
‘I physically went and touched some firefighters when I spoke
to them, because I was not 100 per cent convinced everybody was going to come out of there alive. The building was so hugely involved in fire; you cannot help but compare it to 9/11’
WHEN ASKED IF EFFORTS SHOULD HAVE FOCUSED ON RESCUING CHILDREN OR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES...
‘It’s difficult to make a judgment call on whose life is more valid ... We were never going to stop the fire spreading, we were never going to put the fire out’
WHEN ASKED HOW PREPARED OFFICERS WERE TO TACKLE THE BLAZE...
‘I wouldn’t
develop a training package for a space shuttle to land in front of the Shard. I wouldn’t expect us to be developing training or a response to something that simply shouldn’t happen’
WHAT ONE THING SHE WOULD HAVE CHANGED... ‘I wouldn’t change anything we did on the night. I think without exception my firefighters and my officers and my control staff performed in a fantastic way given the incredible circumstances they were faced against’