October• 2018 | 115totheapartment.Hedidnothave
abreathingapparatusonhim,but
nevertheless climbed into the lift,
pressing for the 20th f loor.
As he travelled up the tower, resi-
dentsleavingthebuildingspokeof
seeing fire on the fifth floor, even on
the sixth floor. To an experienced
London firefighter, this would not
havemadesense.Afireinahigh-
riseoughttobeovermatchedbythe
concrete walls of the apartment in
which it burned. A fourth-floor fire
shouldremainafourth-floorfire.
Badillo’sliftgottothe14thor15th
floorwhenitstopped,andthedoors
juddered open. Immediately a black,
blinding, silent smoke rushed in
around him.Fire from the fourth f loor had
reachedanoutsidewallofthetower
and caught – unthinkably – the
sheersidesoftheexterior.Fatamber
f lames licked up Grenfell’s north-
easternelevation.Whatseemedin-
side to be a manageable appliance
fire was catastrophising, outside,
intoagravethreattotheseresiden-
tial Londoners.
Thiswasaconcretetower.Con-
creteisnotflammable.Sore-
sponders at Grenfell spoke of a
disorientingfeeling–‘likeadream’
–astheywatchedthefiregustup
andaroundthetoweruntilitwas
engulfed. One of the first police of-
ficers to arrive at the scene would
PHOTO: NIGEL HOWARD/ later say “the building was melting”.
EVENING STANDARD
/EYEVINE
he ire quickly gusted up and around the building, trapping people in their homes