I try not to think about the night of the 14 June 2017. It was the worst night of my life. I will never forget waiting for hours with my daughter to be rescued. I was one of the lucky ones and I will always remember that, I made it out. Many did not.
This report is for everyone who lost their lives and their families. We must learn what went wrong. We must expose the truth and make sure this never happens again.
So many false things have been written about Grenfell. I hope this report will be the start of setting the record straight. Firstly, this report totally exonerates our neighbour on the 16th floor.
The Whirlpool fridge started the fire. Our neighbour did everything he could to raise the alarm and protect his neighbours. The media and companies that tried to scapegoat him should hang their heads in shame.
The report also says the building was not compliant with building regulations. This is huge for us and turns the spotlight onto the council, the tenant management company and all the corporates involved in the refurbishment that turned our homes into a death traps.
They have tried to stay quiet or shift the blame to others. The next phase of the inquiry must put an end to the buck passing and fearlessly go after the people at these organisations who bear responsibility. We hope this finding will also lead to criminal prosecutions against those involved in the refurbishment.
It is completely heart-breaking to see in black and white that lives could have been saved if the fire service had trained for an evacuation. It is a painful fact to read for everyone who lost loved ones that night.
The report does not blame junior firefighters for the fire as some people are claiming. My family was saved by firefighters that came up to the 11th floor. I owe them my life. The report focuses on the institutional and leadership failings at the top of the fire brigade.
Many lives were lost, and families deserve for the findings Sir Martin Moore Bick gives to be taken seriously and not dismissed as unfair. His points are fair.
He details that there were institutional failings in the London Fire Brigade and that the leaders failed to learn lessons from a previous fire at Lakanal House and from other cladding fires around the world.
The leaders should have trained for evacuation and fire safety inspections at the tower should have been done properly. Leaders at the LFB need to stop hiding behind the bravery of the frontline fighters. They must acknowledge and take responsibility for failing to prepare their firefighters and they must commit to learning the lessons now.
Tonight, hundreds of people are still going to bed in buildings with dangerous combustible materials on them. The report shows that a simple kitchen fire was all it took for this dangerous materials to catch fire and cause the devastation a Grenfell.
We are terrified that this could happen again. The Government should have already got the cladding down and it is inexcusable that that is not the case. The Government need to see this as a national emergency and act now.
This is a strong report. It is a fair report. And now change must come.
