The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Podcast

This week the Inquiry continued to look at how the London Fire Brigade (LFB) trained its Control Room staff to deal with emergency calls. Evidence was provided by Joanne Smith, the Senior Operations Manager in the Control Room on the night of the Grenfell fire, and Tom George, former Assistant Commissioner for Operational Response accountable for staff training. The Inquiry heard how the LFB’s training on emergency calls didn’t include guidance on asking callers if they had any mobility issues. And a senior manager admitted she was embarrassed by the lack of clarity in the training.

This week the Inquiry looked at how the London Fire Brigade (LFB) trained its Control Room staff to deal with emergency calls. Evidence was given by Scott Hayward, former LFB Principal Operations Manager, and Joanne Smith, the Senior Operations Manager in the Control Room on the night of the Grenfell fire. The Inquiry heard how leading up to Grenfell there were a series of failures to improve the training of Control Room staff, despite commitments to learn the lessons of a fatal fire in a tower block in 2009. Presenter: Tom Symonds; Producers: Sharon Hemans, May Cameron and Nathan Gower; Researcher: Ben Henderson; Studio Mix: Gareth Jones; Editor: Hugh Levinson

This week the Inquiry focused on the London Fire Brigade’s firefighting policies for high-rise buildings. Peter Cowup – former Assistant Commissioner of the LFB’s Operational Policy Department, and Patrick Utting from the LFB’s Operational Policy Team told the Inquiry how the LFB updated their policies in light of fires in South London in 2009 and Southampton in 2010. Presenter: Tom Symonds; Producers: Sharon Hemans, May Cameron and Nathan Gower; Researcher: Ben Henderson; Studio Mix: Gareth Jones; Editor: Jasper Corbett

This week the inquiry saw the closing of one module and the beginning of another.

The opening statements for module six looked at how local and national policies guided the work of firefighters on the night of the fire.

In the closing statements for module three, we heard about how the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Tenant Management Organisation carried out their duties regarding Grenfell Tower.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

The inquiry heard evidence from expert witnesses on the London Fire Brigade’s preparedness for the Grenfell Tower fire.

Fire safety expert Professor Jose Torero argued that the LFB lacked the technical knowledge which would have allowed them to understand how the fire was behaving.

The inquiry also heard from expert witness Chris McGuirk on the LFB’s information gathering policies, and from Professor Chris Johnson on radio communications.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

Paul Grimwood, a fire engineer at Kent Fire and Rescue Service, developed an alternative approach to firefighting in high rise buildings in 2008. The approach allowed incident commanders to assess which of four firefighting strategies - rescue, intervention, containment or evacuation - should be prioritised. Lawyers from the bereaved, survivors and residents of Grenfell Tower have questioned why the London Fire Brigade did not do the same.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

This week we learned that a member of the London Fire Brigade’s Fire Safety Team wrote that giving advice on the risks of high rise cladding fires could be the ‘cat out of the bag on this issue’. The inquiry also heard evidence from the LFB’s former director of operations. Dan Brown said that at the time of the Grenfell Tower fire more than 5,000 high rise buildings were not present on the brigade’s operational risk database.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

The “uncontrolled spread of fire across the outside of tall buildings is a significant threat”. The inquiry revealed that weeks before the fire at Grenfell Tower LFB staff wrote a presentation which warned of the risks of façade fires weeks. The inquiry heard evidence from a Deputy Commissioner, Director of Operational Resilience and Training, and Assistant Commissioner and Head of Fire Safety.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

“The simple fact is that the LFB did know. They knew, and lives could and should have been saved”. This week the inquiry heard new evidence about the management of the LFB and how it trained its staff ahead of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble

“Truly a case of donkeys led by donkeys”. This was how a lawyer for a group of the bereaved, survivors and residents described lead contractor Rydon, the firm of architects Studio E and specialist cladding contractor, Harley Facades. Core participants submitted closing statements, marking the end of the first two sections of Phase 2 of the inquiry which heard evidence about the refurbishment of the tower which put combustible materials on the external walls of the tower.

Producer / Presenter: Kate Lamble