How the Grenfell Tower fire unfolded minute by minute – ‘seven hours of terror’

Seventy-two people died in the fire on 14 June 2017 as the blaze spread in the early hours of the morning with people trapped inside

The tower block fire spread with many residents still trapped inside (Evening Standard/Getty)

Seven years after Britain’s worst residential fire since the Second World War, a long-awaited report into the deaths of the 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire is finally set to be published.

Families of those killed in the north Kensington blaze in 2017 have insisted the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report must be a “landmark” document which prompts widescale change.

A report in 2019, from the first phase of the inquiry, concluded the tower’s cladding did not comply with building regulations and was the “principal” reason for the rapid and “profoundly shocking” spread of the blaze.

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These pictures show how fire swept through Grenfell Tower, top from left: 0130, 0210, 0234; middle from left: 0308, 0323, 0344; bottom from left: 0420, 0443, 0516 (PA)

This final report, which follows further hearings on the tower’s 2016 refurbishment, has looked at how the west London block of flats came to be in a condition that allowed the flames to spread so quickly.

Here The Independent takes a look at how the Grenfell fire unfolded on 14 June 2017:

00:50am

It was at 00.50am when a resident at Grenfell Tower realised that a fire had broken out in the 24-storey building.

Uber driver Behailu Kebede heard a smoke alarm going off, and discovered that the back of a large fridge-freezer in the kitchen of Flat 16 – on the fourth floor – was on fire, and smoke was rising to the window.

He called 999 and said told the London Fire Brigade: “Flat 16, Grenfell Tower. In the fridge. It’s the fourth floor. Quick, quick, quick. It’s burning.” He wakes a neighbour and leaves the tower, having lived there for 25 years.

Police at the scene of the blaze in 2017 (AFP via Getty Images)

12:59am

The first four fire engines arrive at the scene, led by London Fire Brigade watch manager Michael Dowden, who sees an orange glow at the window of Flat 16 and most others in darkness as many of the building’s other 297 residents sleep.

1:06am

Mr Dowden notices that the fire has by now “breached the window of Flat 16. He later told the inquiry that he did not find this out of the ordinary for fires in high-rise flats.

1:09am

Firefighters Charles Batterbee and Daniel Brown reach Flat 16. Batterbee would later tell of how, when he approached the kitchen door, it was “pitch black”, due to thick, “oily” smoke surrounding them.

Describing entering the kitchen, he said: “I thought: ‘wow’. I felt a burning sensation on my arms from my elbow to my wrists, around the back of my neck and head.

“It was at this point we knew we were getting close to finding the fire. The change in temperature was significant, I have never felt that level of heat before, either in training or operationally. It felt like it had totally wrapped around me.”

The firefighters succeeded in extinguishing the kitchen fire by repeatedly spraying water onto the flames, which appeared to be coming from around the fridge freezer.

But the fire had by this point spread to the flammable cladding on the building’s exterior and had rapidly begun to spread up its east-facing facade.

1:19am

Mr Dowden notices the cladding has caught fire. He later described feeling “out of my comfort zone because I didn’t have any previous experience to fall back on in terms of ... the way it [the fire] was behaving and reacting”.

More than 70 people died as a result of the blaze (Getty Images)

1:21am

Dr Naomi-Yuan Li, who is on the 22nd floor, calls 999 after smelling something “like burning plastic” while waiting for a call from her husband, who is in Malaysia on business. The operator says it

In line with the fire brigade’s “stay put” policy, based on the belief that the design of high-rise flats will contain the fire long enough for it to be extinguished, the operator tells her to stay inside her flat unless the situation changes.

Four minutes later, Denis Murphy is among residents on the 14th floor to also call 999, and is similarly advised to stay put.

1:26am

The Met Police declares a major incident.

1:30am

Nida Mangoba makes it outside with her family from their flat on the 14th floor, having been woken by the sound of an alarm and seeing “orange and yellow flames shooting up the outside of the tower.”

By this time, the fire has reached the top of the east side of Grenfell Tower, having climbed 19 storeys above its starting point in Flat 16 before reaching the roof and starting to spread horizontally.

1.31am: The fire brigade increases the number of pumps to 25, having raised this from four to 20 in the space of 16 minutes.

By now, 110 of the building’s 297 occupants have escaped the building.

A damning report into the fire and the circumstances that led to it has been published (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

1.42am: The London Ambulance Service declares a “significant incident”, and three minutes later the first helicopter arrives.

2am: Flames are now travelling across the north and east sides of the tower, affecting flats in the southeast and northwest corners, while a total of 129 people remain inside.

2.20am: The fire starts to spread to the south side of the tower. Over the next 30 minutes, the fire service receives 35 emergency calls relating to trapped Grenfell residents.

2.35am: The fire brigade revokes its “stay put” advice, telling all residents to leave the tower as a matter of life and death.

3.20am: LFB assistant commissioner Andy Roe, who had taken over command at 2:44am, chairs the first Tactical Co-ordination Group meeting with police, paramedics and local officials.

By this time, 100 people are believed to be trapped in the tower and it is understood that three people have died.

8.07am: Retiree Elpidio Bonifacio, the last survivor to leave the tower, is evacuated. He later told the inquiry he had “lost all hope” when he was saved by firefighters.