Fire chief: I knew instantly Grenfell was 'unfightable'
Dany Cotton physically touched firefighters as they went into the building as she feared they may not return alive.
Thursday 27 September 2018 20:37, UK
London's fire chief has told the Grenfell Tower inquiry she realised the fire was "unfightable" as soon as she stepped out of her car.
Dany Cotton recalled being hit by an "overwhelming" anxiety as crews went inside the tower on 14 June, physically touching firefighters to give them a final positive memory of being comforted.
Ms Cotton said she did not know if they would all return alive from the fire - in which 72 lives were lost.
She said: "I recall I actually physically went and touched some firefighters when I spoke to them, because I was not 100% convinced in my mind that everybody was going to come out of there alive."
Her "clearly terrified" fire crews "should never have been put in that position", she said.
In a written statement to the inquiry, she said: "It has truly damaged some people who witnessed some terrible things and who will never forget them. They will wear the scars for the rest of their life."
Ms Cotton revealed she is receiving therapy after suffering significant memory gaps following the incident.
The London Fire Brigade chief told the inquiry she would change nothing about her team's response on the night of the fire and defended the crews' "fantastic" actions - to which survivors in the room shook their heads.
The commissioner replied: "I would not change anything we did on the night.
"I think, without exception, my firefighters, my officers and my control staff performed in a fantastic way given the incredible circumstances they were faced against.
"They were put into an untenable situation, a building that behaved in a way it should never have done, that put the residents' lives at risk, and without a shadow of a doubt I personally was responsible for committing my firefighters to their potential death in the pursuit of rescuing as many people in that building as possible."
:: Grenfell firefighter's guilt over not being able to save more people
Ms Cotton admitted she had not received training on fire-spread over the facade of a high-rise residential block or on cladding.
However, she said the Grenfell fire would have been judged to be an "unrealistic scenario" and preparing for it would have been like preparing for a "space shuttle to land in front of the Shard".
"I wouldn't expect us to be developing training or a response to something that simply shouldn't happen," she said.
Survivor Shahin Sadafi, of Grenfell United, said it was "a very imaginative response to something that we believe is not totally accurate".
He said: "I'm not saying that Grenfell wasn't unprecedented, but I am saying there were mistakes made and the fire service and everyone needs to acknowledge these mistakes so we can have truth, justice and we can make sure we change lives for the future, that we can save lives, changes are made and regulations and procedures are respected enough to make sure that something like this does not happen again."