Grenfell woman carried down 17 flights of stairs, firefighter recalls

A woman found near the top of Grenfell Tower was carried down at least 17 flights of stairs by firefighters and passed out during the perilous descent.

The Grenfell Inquiry heard Paddington firefighter Martin Gillam tell how he and four crewmates took it in turns to carry her as they stumbled through intense heat, likening their escape route to a chimney.

The survivor later hugged and thanked Mr Gillam, who had gone to check up on her as she was being treated by paramedics.

Mr Gillam decided to attempt the rescue after learning crews had failed to reach a woman trapped on the 20th floor.

His crew of five climbed up and found the woman “coughing and spluttering” in the stairwell between the 20th and 21st floors.

The casualty was initially “with it”, Mr Gillam said, but began screaming and fell unconscious at around the 17th or 18th floor.

Once at the bottom of the tower, Mr Gillam gave the woman CPR before dodging falling debris and helping to carry her to the ambulance service.

Mr Gillam later checked up on her and she recognised him immediately, he said.

He described the woman as around 35-45, black, with short hair in cornrows, and wearing a headscarf.

He said: “We gave each other a hug. I said ‘You’re out now, you’re fine’ and she said ‘Thank you, thank you’.

“It was really quick. I just wanted to make sure she was alive.

“In this job you get people out of cars, trains or whatever and you never see them again.”

Seventy-two people died in the high-rise blaze on June 14 last year.

Firefighters are giving evidence for a fourth week in the first phase of the inquiry in central London.

The Grenfell Tower fire