114 | October• 2018
ERNOhe first phone call to the emergency services
camethroughfromGrenfellTowerat12.54am,
onJune14,2017.Afaultyfridgehadsetfire
toaresident’skitchenonthefourthfloor.By
12.56am, two wailing fire trucks from North
Kensington station were on the way.marathonrunnerhadservedin
thedistrictfor17years.Beforehe
becameafirefighterhehadbeen
a lifeguard at a nearby swimming
pool–andheknewpeoplewholived
insidethetower.Infirefighterterms,
Badillo was ‘busy’, meaning, he
combinedadegreeofcheekwithan
eagernesstobeinfirstonanything
dangerous.Hewasadoer,ahelper–
a hurl-himself-in-er.
Badillo came through Grenfell’s
lobby on his way to fetch more equip-
ment from the trucks, when he was
stopped by a young woman near the
tower’s entrance. She was a resident,
she explained, and her 12-year-old
sister was up on the 20th floor. The
young woman was in some distress
at the thought of her sister being
alone. Their mother was working a
night shift. Their father was out of the
apartment visiting a friend. The young
woman asked Badillo if she could rush
up with him to fetch her sister.
Badillothoughtaboutit.No,you
stay here, he told her. I’ll go and get
your sister. He found out her name- Jessica – and borrowed the keys PHOTO, PREVIOUS SPREAD: GUILHEM BAKER/LONDON NEWS PICTURES/PRESSFRAME
ss than 1.5 kilometres
away. When the trucks pulled up by
the tower there was no indication,
yet, that a fire burned inside. The
men unloaded coils of hosing from
the trucks, tapped hydrants for water
and prepared to enter the building.
Accidental fires in concrete high-
risesareroutineevents.Ifthe
buildings are constructed and main-
tainedwithaproperrespectforand
dreadoffire,theoutbreaksareeasy
to control. Firefighters respond to
thecall,getinquickly,isolatethe
fireonthefloor,andputitout.
Firefighters got inside Grenfell
Tower and went up to the fourth
floor,passingresidentsonthestairs
who’dbeenwokenfromtheirbeds
by the commotion and the smoke.
Twofirefighterswearingbreathing
apparatusesbrokedownthedoorof
theafflictedapartmentandtrained
their hoses on the flames. They
doused whatever burned.
Downstairs in the lobby, veteran
firefighterDavidBadillocar-
ried in extra equipment from the
trucks. The 44-year-old cyclist and