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Grenfell Inquiry day 32: firefighter describes lack of equipment and low water pressure

Marc Aston-O’Donovan, the latest firefighter to take the stand, describes issues with water pressure and a lack of equipment – including spare breathing apparatus and tools to break down doors.

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Grenfell Inquiry day 32: further firefighter describes lack of equipment and low water pressure #ukhousing

Key points

  • Firefighter says he did not have necessary equipment to tackle ferocious fires in burning flats, or to break down locked doors
  • He was unable to communicate with leaders of the rescue mission while he was carrying out a rescue mission on the 12th floor
  • Repeat evidence that low water pressure impacted ability to battle the blaze

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Firefighters undertook rescue operations within Grenfell Tower without extra breathing apparatus for victims, effective radio communications and other valuable gear it has emerged.

Mr Aston-O’Donovan – who was the watch manager at Ealing Fire Station when the tragic blaze broke out on 14 June 2017 – gave evidence to the official inquiry today.

He described a series of problems with equipment during the desperate battle against the fire at the London tower block.

These started on the way to the blaze, with a lack of information on the mobile data terminal fixed into the fire engine to provide detail of an incident and allow firefighters to be briefed in advance, he said: “The MDT links to an incident. On this occasion it [didn’t]. There would have been no information about number of floors or where the fire was.”

When Mr Aston-O’Donovan and his crew arrived at the scene of the fire, at about 2am, it quickly became clear that this was not a routine call out.

“It was not like a normal incident where there are definite jobs to do. There was so much to do and so many people asking for help, it was apparent that my crew would have to go in different directions,” he said.

Mr Aston-O’Donovan was sent to the 12th floor of Grenfell Tower to attempt to find and rescue a firefighter believed missing. It later turned out this firefighter was safe, so instead he and his team began to try to clear the floor of people needing rescue.

This was challenging. On entering one flat, it quickly became apparent that the firefighters didn’t have the equipment needed to deal with the ferocity of the environment.

Mr Aston-O’Donovan told the inquiry the thoughts that crossed his mind at the time: “I have no firefighting media and there is not a lot we can do to go inside a flat under those conditions,” he said.

“Without firefighting media you are – I’m trying to find a phrase I can say in a room like this – you are not able to achieve much.”

Mr Aston-O’Donovan and his colleague closed the door and moved on to the next one, which was locked. “We had no forceable entry equipment with us so it’s just your size nine boots at that stage and we tried to boot the door in... It was very unsuccessful.”

At this stage two women came out of another door on the floor, and the two firefighters decided to take each down through the intensely smokey stairwell. Attempts to communicate with fire chiefs managing operations from below failed.

“Both my colleague and I tried comms [communications] from the 12th floor unsuccessfully,” said Mr Aston-O’Donovan.

Communications equipment was often unreliable, he added.

“The BARI set – integrated into breathing apparatus – regularly fails. With handheld radios, I was at a minor incident recently where I was on the eighth floor and I could not communicate with my driver outside the appliance. That is the example that best suits Grenfell Tower – I couldn’t get communications.”

Mr Aston-O’Donovan did not have spare breathing apparatus with him as he arranged the rescue of the two women, so had to rely on the woman he was escorting to hold her breath for several floors until it was safe to breathe. “If I was to do it again tomorrow I would take a breathing apparatus set with me.”

Later on during the incident, Mr Aston-O’Donovan was tasked with returning to the tower, this time to the sixth floor to help control the blaze. He was told there were two lines of hose available on that level but this turned out to be incorrect.

“We only had one line of hose,” he said.

Water pressure was low, he added.

“Normally we try to operate around seven bar [a measure of water pressure], this was no more than two bar.”

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Closing statements

 

Day 85: victims' lawyers attack the fire brigade

 

Further expert evidence

Including some additional evidence from emergency call handlers, bereaved and relatives

 

Day 84: further evidence from survivors and relatives

Day 83: swift evacuation of tower possible if residents alerted

Day 82: initial fire was extinguished but then returned to the flat

Day 81: overheating fridge-freezer most likely cause of fire

Day 80: fire doors installed did not match product tested

Day 79: resident advised to stay put despite fire in flat

Day 78: insulation and cladding material below required standard

Day 77: molten plastic spread blaze down tower

Day 76: 'stay put' should be dropped when fire spreads across floors

 

Other witness evidence

Police, ambulance, gas suppliers, council, TMO and call room operators give evidence

 

Day 75: call room operators give evidence

Day 74: further evidence from TMO officers

Day 73: TMO boss failed to pass information to firefighters

Day 72: fire finally extinguished when gas switched off

Day 71: further questions over stay put advice

Day 70: the police evidence

 

The bereaved, survivors and relatives’ evidence

 

Day 69: video shows smoke billowing through fire door

Day 68: KCTMO removed self closing mechanism and never replaced it

Day 67: gaps in cladding fixed with duct tape

Day 66: 'don't fix broken system with a sticking plaster'

Day 65: survivor dragged disabled man down nine floors to safety

Day 64: KCTMO 'did not replace broken fire door'

Day 63: foam insulation inside cladding 'exposed' says survivor

Day 62: father gives harrowing account of son's death

Day 61: council’s management organisation slammed for faulty electrics

Day 60: stay put advice ‘led to deaths’, residents say

Day 59: residents describe problems with new windows

Day 58: survivor describes how daughter saved his life

Day 57: firefighter evidence ‘a slap in the face’, says survivor

Day 56: relations with contractor were ‘toxic’

Day 55: resident 'never happy' with stay-put advice

Day 54: tenant gives evidence about housing association

Day 53: stay put advice 'felt like trap'

Day 52: resident saved by son's phone call

 

The firefighters’ evidence

 

Day 51: firefighter feared encouraging residents to jump

Day 50: the LFB commissioner

Day 49: fire chief reveals frustration over lack of building plans

Day 48: internal fire spread 'bigger story' than cladding

Day 47: fire officer considered evacuating crews over building collapse fears

Day 46: 'we were improvising' senior firefighter admits

Day 45: firefighter urged for abandonment of 'stay put' policy

Day 44: firefighter recalls radio signal difficulties

Day 43: call hander 'uncomfortable' with insisting residents stay put

Day 42: residents only told to leave if they called fire brigade back

Day 41: breathing equipment delay 'hampered rescues on upper floors'

Day 40: chiefs told firefighters to abandon policy

Day 39: firefighters reveal dramatic rescue of children

Day 38: firefighters issue aplogies to families

Day 37: council 'unable to provide tower plans'

Day 36: QC defends inquiry process

Day 35: Javid would welcome interim recommendations

Day 34: water from hose 'too weak' to reach the flames

Day 33: 'oh my god, we've been telling people to stay put'

Day 32: further fire fighter describes lack of equipment and low water pressure

Day 31: 'incredibly difficult' task of recording information outlined

Day 30: struggle to maintain control over rescue operation described

Day 29: fire service 'overwhelmed' by survival guidance calls

Day 28: 'the building beat us'

Day 27: firefighters 'forced to abandon plans to reach roof'

Day 26: poor signage hindered rescue efforts

Day 25: water pressure left firefighting equipment 'like garden hose'

Day 24: decision to abandon 'stay put' explored

Day 23: TV images 'could have assissted' rescue effort

Day 22: description of hectic scenes in the control centre

Day 21: account from the fire service 'nerve centre'

Day 20: firefighter describes 'huge volume' of calls from trapped residents

Day 19: firefighter 'given no training on cladding fires'

Day 18: evacuation would have been 'huge catastrophe'

Day 17: firefighters describe access and lift issues

Day 16: scenes of carnage likened to 9/11

Day 15: firefighters recount trauma of survival guidance calls

Day 14: firefighters describe spread of blaze

Day 13: firefighters recall radio difficulties

Day 12: "it was like a war zone"

Day 11: questions raised over fire fighters' radios

Day 10: watch manager emotional under questioning

Day nine: lead firefighter 'not trained in stay put policy'

 

The expert reports: authors give evidence to inquiry

 

Day eight: where the fire started

Day seven: what was in the cladding?

Day six: the cause and spread of the fire

Day five: expert highlights key issues

Day four: firefighters defend response to fire

Day three: council and contractors appear for the first time

Day two: lawyers for the survivors make their case

Day one: expert evidence released on cladding and stay put

 

The commemoration hearings

 

30 May: Grenfell Council 'recognised it should not house disabled victim above four storeys'

29 May: Anger on day six of the Grenfell Inquiry

25 May: Grenfell families 'forced to live in chimney with stay put policy'

24 May: Grenfell family complained about father being housed on 17th floor

23 May: Tributes to children on third day of Grenfell hearings

22 May: Emotions run high as Grenfell bereaved shown footage of the tower burning

21 May: Grenfell victims share tributes as inquiry opens

 

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