Fire commissioner to give evidence to Grenfell Tower Inquiry
Grenfell Tower fire survivors will hear from the head of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) during the public inquiry into the blaze.
Commissioner Dany Cotton, the most senior member of the brigade, will stand before those who escaped the block, and the family and friends of those who did not, to give her account of the night of June 14 last year.
Numbers of attendees from the local community have dwindled in recent weeks, but a higher turnout is expected to hear Ms Cotton on Thursday.
She will be the most senior fire officer to give evidence at the inquiry so far, which is in its 10th week of firefighter evidence.
The probe has heard how policy went “out the window” as teams tried to deal with an unprecedented, rapidly spreading fire, with an “overwhelming” number of calls coming from those trapped inside.
Many present said they had never seen fire spread so far, so fast, and that they were not prepared to fight a fire or rescue on such a scale.
The brigade has also been criticised for initially telling residents to remain in their flats despite the ferocity of the inferno.
The commissioner, a firefighter since the age of 18, arrived at the scene of the fire at 2.29am, the inquiry was told in June.
She described the site as “alien to anything I had ever seen” in a statement to the inquiry, part of which was read out.
She said: “I have never seen a building where the whole of it was on fire.
“Nobody has ever seen that. It was incredible.
“It was so alien to anything I had ever seen.”
Ms Cotton is said to have been concerned about the “large numbers of displaced persons wandering the local area”, as well as for the psychological welfare of her fire crews.
On Wednesday the inquiry was shown a CCTV image of the commissioner alongside several firefighters in breathing apparatus inside the lobby of the tower.
Assistant commissioner Andrew Roe told the inquiry: “I remember going in with the commissioner, and I remember thinking at the time the commissioner was putting herself in very considerable danger, and this was an extremely unusual situation to be in when one’s own commissioner is running the possibility of being badly injured or killed at an incident.”
The inquiry is in its first phase, which is looking at the night of the fire, and is being held at Holborn Bars in central London.
It will be the turn of survivors, the bereaved and local residents next week when firefighters’ evidence draws to a close.
