Grenfell fire service urged to explain initial 15-minute delay

GRENFELL TOWER survivors have questioned why it took firemen 15 minutes from arriving at the building to tackling the initial fire as they said there seemed to be “no urgency”.

Witnesses have claimed that initial responders were standing in the lobby on their phones, chatting and “waiting for orders” after they arrived to find the that the firemen’s lift was broken.

By the time that they started applying water to the fire in the kitchen of Flat 16 it had already spread out of the window and into the cladding, through which the flames spread and claimed the lives of 72 people. The fire service has already been criticised by residents for the “stay put” strategy, which was not abandoned until 2.47am. The fire service arrived at the scene on June 14 last year at 12.59am.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal they borrowed a resident’s keys to get into the block, where they discovered the switch to override the lift system was not working. Experts say this delayed their entry to the flat. However, residents have questioned why they could not have gone straight up the stairs.

Farshid Kaficheraghi, 46, believes he was the second person to leave the block after coming out of his 12th floor flatt. He said: “The firefighters were not doing anything. They had attached their hose to the emergency water but they were not actually using any hoses.”

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: “The Grenfell Tower Inquiry must be allowed to hear all of the technical advice and expert reports, and all of the evidence about what happened on the night of the fire, without influence.”