Applause for retiring fire chief angers Grenfell families
VICTIMS of the Grenfell Tower fire last night criticised the “disrespectful” guard of honour given to Dany Cotton, the London Fire Brigade Commissioner, on her final day of service.
Firefighters in uniform lined the streets applauding her with some holding signs sayings “We are Dany” as a similar solidarity campaign was organised on social media.
Miss Cotton is standing down early after being criticised for the service’s response to the blaze and the “stay put” advice which an inquiry has found cost people their lives.
Survivors said the public outpouring of support showed that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) is still refusing to learn lessons from the tragedy.
Fewer people would have died had the fire service been better prepared to deal with the 2017 blaze, Sir Martin Moore-bick found in a damning report published in October.
The brigade’s first female commissioner addressed supporters as she was greeted with the sound of bagpipes and applause outside LFB headquarters.
“Things have been a bit difficult recently but the messages of support I’ve received, the emails, the messages on social media, have just made everything OK,” she said yesterday.
“It makes me feel proud, the fire service looks after each other.”
Nazanin Aghlani, who lost her mother, Sakineh Afrasiabi, and an aunt in the fire, told The Daily Telegraph: “It is to be expected that Dany Cotton would get a send-off from her colleagues, but to make it so public is disrespectful and shows us that the LFB is refusing to learn from its mistakes, to respect the bereaved families and to accept responsibility for their mistakes that night.”
She said that the errors were “clearly spelt out” in the Grenfell report, which also remarked on Miss Cotton’s “remarkable insensitivity”.
Ms Aghlani’s relatives were among 72 people who lost their lives in the west London inferno. She said that the show of support for Miss Cotton showed that the brigade is “turning a blind eye to the inquiry’s findings” and “still refusing to accept responsibility for their wrongdoings” as they had done after previous fatal fires.
She said that families were looking forward to working with the new commissioner, Andy Roe, and hope he “will tackle these institutional problems”.
Paulos Tekle, who lost his five-yearold son, Isaac, in the fire said the guard of honour was “very upsetting”.
“The reason why Dany Cotton left early is because of the failure that night,” he said.
“I lost my little boy. It is very sad that she is still not showing any sympathy just as she failed to do in the inquiry.
“It would have been better if the LFB had not chosen to applaud this situation especially at this very sensitive time during the Christmas holidays when we miss our loved ones so much”.
‘To make it so public shows the LFB is refusing to learn’