24-storey Grenfell Tower was built in 1974 and renovated just last year at a cost of Rs 80 crore
We are in a state of shock. The whole of London, indeed, all of England, is in a state of numbed disbelief. The ginormity of the catastrophic fire! Only a mile from our home! Right next to the Westway Sports Centre, where I used to take my children rock climbing and to play tennis!
The scenes in real life and in the wall to wall TV coverage. Almost unbearable to even glance at. Coming so close after the Manchester and London Bridge terrorist attacks.
First thing I heard on waking up on Wednesday was of the fire in Grenfell Tower, North Kensington. But still not realising how bad it was, as I walked towards it, I noticed the grey black road. Thinking the Local Council had not cleaned the roads. It suddenly dawned that it were the ash debris from the fire from over half a mile away?
It was almost 6 hours since the fire started at 1am. But it was still burning. Visible from everywhere. Hundreds of fire brigades and policemen, helicopters hovering above. Roads were cordoned off.
The acrid smell was overpowering. Dazed relatives standing outside looking up at the building, still billowing smoke, hoping their loved ones are OK. Children crying for their parents. Sisters looking for brothers. Six people confirmed dead. Then it became 12. Then 17. The numbers are expected to rise to over a hundred. 600 people were rendered homeless. From the building and from the surrounding houses.
24 hours later, the outside of the building is like a burnt shell but the fire is still burning inside. Building is still considered unsafe to enter. Still, the firemen have been working throughout the night without caring for their own safety. The Westway Sports Centre, which we visited often, has been turned into an Emergency Rest Centre. The local mosque and community centres too. Control Centre has been set up near the base of the Grenfell.
24-storey Grenfell Tower was built in 1974 and renovated just last year at a cost of Rs 80 crore. New plastic cladding appeared to have made the building go up like a Roman candle. Negligence and incompetence are thought to have contributed to an avoidable tragedy. It is all the more shameful because it is in the deprived council estate but of the richest borough in the country. Right next to it, not more than 200 yards away, are the huge stucco fronted white colonnaded grand houses of Notting Hill and Kensington.
Heart-rending eye witness accounts of people from the top floors shining torches/phone lights, screaming to attract attention. Some made ropes from sheets to get down. Some were saved. People escaping merely in their underwears. A miracle baby was thrown from a 9th floor window and was caught by a random man who stepped forward from the crowd to catch him. No fear for himself.
Amongst the disbelief, anger and shock in the ash strewn streets are also incredible scenes of bravery and camaraderie. Firemen going up the smoke filled single stairway to find any survivors. Fathers and mothers trying to rescue their children. And people walking in with armfulls of food, clothes, shoes, blankets and beds. Trolley loads of water bottles. 100s of volunteers, trying to sort out the aid. True British grit.
I have been there all this time. My Alma Mater Rugby School’s charity, the Rugby Portobello Trust, founded in the 60s to guide youth in deprived areas, has taken many of the homeless. The Sikh disaster relief organisation, Khalsa Aid, which was such a star during last year’s floods in Somerset has started 24X7 breakfast service. The Islamic Relief and many other organisations, all working quietly together. Incidentally, it was the Muslim neighbours who were still awake due to their Ramadan were the first ones to run to the building and rescue scores. Heroes.
The Prime Minister has just visited the scene and promised a full enquiry. The Queen has sent her message of condolence. The mood is somber and sad, Edward tells me. A lone photo of missing 12-year-old Jessica is stuck on the map, the Grenfell Estate.
Heartbreaking.
Edward Dickinson
The writer resides in Jaipur and was in London on the day of Grenfell Tower fire
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