Highlighting the difficulties in fighting the high-rise blaze
A firefighter and a man embrace before a minute’s silence near to Grenfell Tower in west London Monday June 19, 2017. Tens of people died when a fire engulfed an high-rise apartment block in west London last week. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)
The following quotes and Facebook post below are from an anonymous firefighter who worked at the scene of the tragic Grenfell Tower high-rise fire. His words capture a fraction of what was experienced by fire crews inside.
“Weighed down carrying 30kg+ of equipment not including our firekit and breathing apparatus (BA) we passed through entry control handing in our tallies and confirming our brief. We made our way up a crowed stairwell struggling to make progress, at times unable to pass because of the amount of people on the stairs. The stairwells were full of other BA crews bringing people down all in various states and conditions.”
“A quick gauge check showed us that the amount of floors we’d climbed had taken its toll, we were getting low on air. There’s no way we could make it to the 23rd and back to the bridgehead.”
“My BA pre alarm starts going this off…. this means one thing.. my air is running low.. similar noises are all around me.”
