âStay putâ advice was relied upon despite fires at other towers requiring evacuations, inquiry told
The âstay putâ policy in place at Grenfell Tower has already been identified by the inquiry as increasing the death toll. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
The âstay putâ policy in place at Grenfell Tower has already been identified by the inquiry as increasing the death toll. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Thu 6 May 2021 13.20 EDT
Last modified on Thu 6 May 2021 13.35 EDT
The Grenfell Tower landlord did not create escape plans for disabled residents and instead relied on telling people to âstay putâ despite recent fires in two of its other towers requiring evacuations, the inquiry into the 2017 disaster has heard.
TENANTS of the Grenfell Tower warned time and again about the dangerous building they were living in, but their cries for action fell on deaf ears â they were ignored, insulted and made to feel like âtroublemakersâ and âsub-citizensâ the Inquiry heard last week.
The Kensington and Chelsea Councilâs TMO (Tenants Management Organisation), refused to take heed of the litany of health and safety hazards, fire risks and urgently needed repairs.
The TMO would not listen to the chilling predictions of the residents association within Grenfell Tower, which warned of a âcatastrophic fireâ unless action was taken.
The tenants did everything they possibly could to alert the council of the dangers, but the council ignored their warnings until it was all too late, and on the 14th June, 2017, when the horrific fire broke out, it took the lives of 72 men, women and children.
Survivors claim council knowingly housed people with disabilities on some of tower’s highest floors
Hisam Choucair, whose disabled mother, Sirria, died in the 2017 Grenfell fire, told the inquiry her needs did not seem to be considered when she was housed on the 22nd floor. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer
Hisam Choucair, whose disabled mother, Sirria, died in the 2017 Grenfell fire, told the inquiry her needs did not seem to be considered when she was housed on the 22nd floor. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer
Tue 20 Apr 2021 10.37 EDT
Last modified on Tue 20 Apr 2021 13.45 EDT
Disabled survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire and relatives of disabled victims have claimed the council landlord knew about their conditions but failed to provide them with fire evacuation plans and still housed some on the building’s highest floors.
BBC News
Published
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image captionSome disabled residents living more than 20 storeys up said there were no plans for their evacuation
Disabled residents of Grenfell Tower have told a public inquiry that no-one discussed with them how to escape the 24-storey building in an emergency.
One woman said it took her 30 minutes to walk down from her 20th floor flat when lifts were not working.
Lawyers for residents and the bereaved have called the fire in June 2017 a landmark act of discrimination against disabled people.
It killed 72 people, including 41% of the tower s vulnerable adults.
As part of phase two of the inquiry, examining how the building was managed, disabled residents told how they had no escape routes in an emergency and how many of them struggled to access their own homes when lifts were broken.