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Firefighter says Grenfell blaze ‘like accelerant poured down building’
A firefighter tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower fire has described how “it was as though someone had poured an accelerant down the side of building”, in his evidence to the inquiry.
Charles Battarbee, crew manager, said he directed his jet of water at the fire but it “appeared to move away from where I was directing my jet, the area then instantly reignited once I moved my jet to a different position”.
He added: “I trained the jet from left to right and I also adjusted my cone settings but again, I don’t remember it suppressing the fire. I remember what I can only describe as a fizzing sound. My jet did nothing to knock the fire down or slow it. It was as though someone had poured an accelerant down the side of building. Nothing I tried worked.”
Mr Battarbee was one of the firefighting crew who tackled the fire in flat 16. He described how the temperature in the flat as he approached the fire was like nothing he had experienced. In his statement he said: “I felt a burning sensation on my arms from my elbow to my wrists, around the back of my neck and head. It was at this point we knew we were getting close to finding the fire. The change in temperature was significant, I have never felt that level of heat before, either in training or operationally. It felt like it had totally wrapped around me. The water we put in just turned to steam but I couldn’t see any glowing or flame.”
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Michael Dowden, the first incident commander at the scene, had told the inquiry earlier in the week that he had never seen fire spread that quickly before.
Mr Battarbee said the ‘stay put’ policy in tower blocks “works when the building is not clad in that flammable material.” He told the hearing he did not know about cladding before the fire, and did not notice it on Grenfell Tower when he and colleagues visited the tower during the refurbishment in 2016. He did not remember there being sprinklers in the building or hearing smoke alarms going off on the night of the fire.
In his statement Mr Battarbee said the fire at Grenfell Tower has been “life changing and potentially career changing in a way I can never really describe.” He added: “I don’t really think that there are any words to really capture this horrific event. This was the worst thing that I have ever experienced and witnessed.”
