120 | October• 2018
TOWERING INFERNO
SomeGotOut,SomeDidn’t
Astudentontheeighthfloorgotout
–alongwithanaunthelivedwith
and all of the neighbours from his
f loor – because he was awake and
abletorousethemwhenthefire
started. “PlayStation saved your life,”
hewouldlatertellhisneighbours.
A man on the 16th was telephoned
by a neighbour and told: “Get out.”
Hewrappedatowelaroundhisface
and ran.
More than 600 emergency calls
were recorded from inside Gren-
fellToweronJune14.Ofthosecalls
made before 2.47am, residents were
told to remain in their apartments,
perfireemergencypolicy.Afterthat
time,‘stayput’wasabandonedand
theadvicetoresidentswastoflee,
however possible.
Afatheroftwotoldhiswifeand
daughtersbeforetheybegantheir
descent: “There is no turning back.”
After leading his own wife and
daughter to safety, a resident from
the15thfloorcouldn’tshakea
feelinghe’dleftsomethingimpor-
tant behind. “My soul is there in
that building,” he later told people.
“I don’t think my soul is with me
here–it’sthere.”
At7amDavidBadillo’ssister,Jane,
texted a message to her brother: “Are
you OK?”
She’djustlearntaboutthefire
on the news. Badillo was still at
Grenfell, which would continue to
burn into the evening. By 7am theorwhethertopushonpastand
trytomakeittothosefurtherup.
Thehandingoverofafirefighter’s
breathing equipment to civilians
(alwaysadangeroustemptation)is
forbiddenbytheLondonFireBri-
gade – but it happened and was later
forgiven, part of a brigade-wide am-
nestyonthoseeverydayprocedures
ignoredbyfirefightersinthisfren-
zied,dirty,impossibleevacuation.
Outside, firefighters had to aim
water hoses at one of their own
trucks, which had been ignited by
the falling cladding. For many of the
evacuatingresidents,themostterri-
fyingpartoftheirescapetookplace
once they were outside, running in
front of the building – a no-man’s-
land of tumbling metal. Firefighters
beganmakingshuttlerunsbackand
forth,ferryingoutevacueesunder
riot shields.
At2amand3amand4am,
hoursafterthefirstfirefighters
hadarrived,residentswerestill
trapped. Still waving, still shouting:
“Help me.”
By 5am, hardly any people were
visible in Grenfell’s windows. Fire-
fighters on the ground held their
heads, and panted, and were dismally
honest with one another: “We’re not
going to get everybody out.” When,
earlier in the night, they saw a man
on the 14th floor, hanging from a win-
dowsill, knotted bedsheets trailing
beneath him, all they could do was
scream at him to get back inside.