A firefighter who attempted to rescue a 12-year-old girl from Grenfell Tower has described his frantic search for her.
David Badillo – who was in the first crew that attended the blaze – was asked by a woman to find her sister, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, who lived on the 20th floor.
The officer – who has been a firefighter for 20 years – made two attempts to find the child, but was forced to return to ground level after his breathing apparatus ran out of air. Jessica’s remains were later found on the 23rd floor.
Mr Badillo described the scene in North Kensington as “like a disaster movie”, with pieces of flaming cladding falling from the tower that at one point set a fire engine alight.
In his witness statement, Mr Badillo said he was stopped by a woman who said her little sister was on the 20th floor of the tower.
“She said that her sister was 12 years old and called Jessica and that she was in the flat alone. The lady asked me if she could go up with me to get her,” he said.
“She looked very distressed – panicked and anxious. I told her not to worry and that I would go and get Jessica on my own as I didn’t want to endanger her. She then gave me the keys to the flat.”
At that point, he said he thought the “fire was on a couple of the lower floors”, rather than “a raging inferno”.
“I just wanted to go and get the little girl out of the flat, as she was alone,” he added.
“I didn’t tell anyone what i was doing as there was so much going on. I also thought that I would be told: ‘No’, but I was worried about the girl’s safety.”
Fire officers were not able to gain control of the lift in Grenfell Tower on the 14 June, meaning it it was dangerous to use, since it could become stuck in the shaft or open on a floor where the fire was raging, the inquiry heard.
Nevertheless, Mr Badillo thought the lift was she fastest way to get to the little girl, so approached it and pressing the button to the 20th floor, he said.
“It seemed to take forever and I felt very alone, but the lift opened on the 15th floor, which surprised me,” he said in his witness statement.
“I was even more surprised when the lift immediately filled with thick, black smoke [which] means that something is burning and no water had been put on it yet.
“I held my breath and shut my eyes and started to feel my way out to the stairwell.
“It was eerily silent for a smoke-filled lobby. It was completely silent. No comms were coming from the radio and there were no alarms sounding, which I would expect there to be in a newly refurbished building, full of smoke.
“I only had my tunic, gloves and helmet on, but it didn’t feel hot. I decided that if I was to go and get Jessica out, then I would need [breathing apparatus] to do so.”
Mr Badillo ran to the bottom of the tower using the staircase, which was contained only light smoke.
He made a second attempt to find Jessica, this time with breathing apparatus and accompanied by two other officers. They made it to the 20th floor, where Jessica’s sister said she was.
“I checked all of the typical hiding places — under the bed and in the cupboards, but did not find anyone,” he said in his statement.
“We were shouting out and searching by stamping and sweeping to feel our way round, using our torches.
“We were sure that we had completed a thorough search and that no one was inside the flat. I felt that with the front door being found ajar and us searching the rooms twice that Jessica must have gotten out.”
They tried to send messages to colleagues outside, but the the communications were not working, he said.
“Chris Secrett’s warning whistle then went off and we knew we had to get out,” he said in his statement.
“Policy says you should be out of the building before the warning whistle sounds, not still on the 20th floor.
“It was a bit scary being surrounded by flames and smoke without any comms – it felt like we were trapped.”
When he eventually got out of the building, the officer recalled cladding raining down on the firefighters below.
“The cladding was coming down with other bits of the building and the wind was also catching it,” he said.
“At one point a piece hit our engine and the engine next to us caught on fire, before it was put out. It felt like a disaster movie and we were in the middle of it.”
Later in the night, he described the scene outside the tower. ”The cladding was coming down with other bits of the building and the wind was also catching it. At one point a piece hit our engine and the engine next to us caught on fire, before it was put out,” he said.
“I could clearly see people, still inside, at their windows, waving for help whilst holding their phones which were lit up. I looked to where we had just been on the 20’ floor and it was glowing orange — it was a raging inferno and the fire was up to the 23rd floor.
“I can’t really describe how I felt as no words can describe it. I felt relief at getting out alive but was in shock at just how bad and out of control the fire had become. It felt like a disaster movie and we were in the middle of it.”
He helped fire crews access the building using riot shield to protect them from falling rubble.
”Things were exploding overhead and landing on our shields and craters were appearing in the ground from all of the falling debris. Shards of metal were falling down, as well as concrete and glass and there were fireballs coming down all over the place.”
Mr Badillo helped transport dead and injured people to a makeshift hospital in a nearby sports centre.
One unconscious woman was carried out of the building who had a “blackened mouth”, and was wearing a ball and mask – by which air can be pushed into her body.
“No chest compressions were being conducted as she was being carried and when we got outside, she was placed on a trolley. I continued to pump air in to her body and her arm suddenly started to raise and the lady came to.
“She started to say ‘thank you, thank you’ repeatedly and appeared to be grateful to be alive and tried to hug me.”
