London Fire Brigade needs to show what it has learned from Grenfell

I want to emphasise that this is absolutely not an attack on the brave firefighters who responded to the fire at Grenfell Tower. They displayed extraordinary courage that night, and are not to blame for the fire

‘The events of 14 June 2017 fundamentally changed how fire services across the UK’ (Getty)

The Grenfell Tower fire has left a permanent scar on the fabric of our nation. The biggest loss of life in a residential fire since the Second World War, Grenfell is a tragedy on a scale not witnessed in my lifetime.

The events of 14 June 2017 fundamentally changed how fire services across the UK – and the London Fire Brigade in particular – respond to fires in high-rise residential buildings. But three-and-a-half years since the fire, it’s far from clear that all the lessons have been learnt.

At the Home Secretary’s request, we have completed an inspection of the London Fire Brigade’s response to the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Of the 29 recommendations relevant to the London Fire Brigade, we found that only four have been completed, with seven “on track” and 18 delayed. At the time of our inspection, the brigade said it expected to complete a further 17 recommendations by March 2021.

We do understand that the last year has been particularly challenging for the London Fire Brigade – and firefighters across the country. The London Fire Brigade has responded very well to the Covid-19 pandemic – with, for example, redeployed firefighters driving ambulances across the capital and transporting dead bodies.

And I do praise the areas where progress has been made, especially over the last year. The brigade has new leadership, the commitment to improvement is obvious, and there is a sustained effort to understand the lessons from the fire. For example, residents of high-rise blocks in London will be relieved to hear the safety of these buildings is being reviewed more often.

But despite some achievement, and the difficult circumstances the brigade has faced, delays to implementing some of the inquiry’s urgent and potentially lifesaving recommendations are concerning.

In 2019, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry said that if a decision to evacuate the tower had been made earlier, it would probably have resulted in fewer deaths. But our inspection revealed an 11-month delay to implementing new operational policies regarding evacuation, and advising people to “get out” rather than “stay put” where appropriate – although incident commanders have been able to use their discretion and evacuate residents from their homes.

We are also worried about delays to providing realistic training exercises at high-rise residential buildings for firefighters and incident commanders to practice using these new operational policies. These are vital to ensure frontline staff have the skills, knowledge and confidence needed when disaster strikes.

I want to emphasise that this is absolutely not an attack on the brave firefighters who responded to the fire at Grenfell Tower. They displayed extraordinary courage that night, and they are not to blame for the fire.

As Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, our job is to help fire services like the London Fire Brigade to make improvements in the way they work, so that the public is kept safer.

Ultimately, we want to see the London Fire Brigade get better at coordinating its plans to act on the inquiry’s recommendations. Because the brigade must be able to assure itself – and the public – that if an incident as catastrophic as Grenfell were to happen again, the response would be much better.

That is the very least that victims, survivors and their families deserve.

Matt Parr, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services