Grenfell tower survivor 'tried to pull father with dementia' from his flat before 'wall of fire' took hold

A Grenfell Tower fire survivor was forced to abandon his immobile father as a “wall of fire” reached their 16th floor flat.

Samuel Ian Daniels told the public inquiry into the disaster his father, Joseph Daniels, had mental health problems, mobility issues, and was disoriented “nearly constantly” due to dementia.

Mr Daniels said he pleaded with his father to leave their apartment after discovering smoke in the hallway, but the 69-year-old was “frozen in a daze” and would not move.

As smoke rapidly filled their flat, Mr Daniels tried pulling him outside, but said the former bodybuilder was too strong to move.

Mr Daniels said he went and found help, but firefighters could not find his father, whose body was later found by the front door to his flat.

In a written statement read to the inquiry, Mr Daniels said he was alerted to the fire last June by a burning smell.

At first he believed it was under control and followed fire-survival guidance given to residents to stay in the flat.

But he decided to evacuate after discovering smoke in the stairwell.

“I went back to my father and told him he had to put his shoes on as we needed to leave,” Mr Daniels said. “He was asking why ... I explained that the fire was on our side of the block.

“He is very stubborn and was not moving quickly. He was also very confused.

“He asked me to show him the fire. We got as close to the window as possible and then, from below us to the right, a wave of fire shot past the window.”

Mr Daniels continued: “I was now very scared. In between telling him to get ready I went to open the front door to see how much smoke was outside. The last time I did this, it caused the smoke alarm in the flat to go off.

“There was so much smoke now that I knew we had to leave immediately. I shouted at my dad to forget his shoes and to leave with me, but he was disorientated and frozen in a daze.

Mr Daniels then grabbed his father and tried to pull him out.

“I was shaking him and pulling him, but because he used to be a bodybuilder he was still strong,” he said.

“I am left handed and my left middle finger was in a cast at the time due to an injury. This meant I could only hold onto my father with my right hand, and I just was not strong enough to move him.

“I knew that I would have to get help.”

As Mr Daniels ran out of the flat he looked behind him and saw “a wall of fire through the window behind my father”.

He continued to plead with the 69-year-old and opened the flat’s front door, which allowed “thick, black smoke” to pour into the flat.

“He was not responding to me at all; he was in a daze,” Mr Daniels said.

“I was breathing (smoke) in and I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness. I realised that if I became unconscious we would both be dead.

“I covered my face with my hood and went out of the door into the corridor. I left the door open in case my father came behind me.”

The smoke was now so thick Mr Daniels said he could not see anything and had to feel his way down the stairs.

“I was aware that if I was struggling so much to breathe as a young and relatively fit person, my father would lose consciousness in seconds in the smoke,” he said.

When Mr Daniels reached the 11th floor, he encountered a firefighter and told him his father was trapped inside his flat.

The firefighter said it was too dangerous for him to go and look for Mr Daniels’ father alone, but used his radio to call a fire crew.

“Five minutes later a team of four firemen arrived and went up the stairs. They were not wearing breathing apparatus. I stayed with the other fireman,” Mr Daniels said.

“After another five minutes the firemen returned and said they could not tell which floors they were on as there were no signs.”

Mr Daniels said the floors had previously been clearly marked with numbers, but during the 2016 refurbishment these markings were painted over.

Firefighters have previously told the inquiry some floors were unmarked, while others only had a number scrawled on the wall in pen.

“This meant that (the firefighters) could not find my father,” Mr Daniels said. “They asked which floor we were on, but I did not know.

“By this time I felt sure that my father was either unconscious or dead already.”

The same group of firefighters ran up the stairs again, but came running down a short while later “looking totally petrified”.

“It was as if they were literally running for their lives,” Mr Daniels said. “I asked the last one about my father. He said that they could not do anything.

“He told me no one could go up there and I had to leave. I turned to the fireman I had been waiting with and he just said to me to get out.

“I ran with the firemen and it felt like I was running away from my father.”

Mr Daniels said once he made it outside “I knew for sure my father was dead”.

From the grass next to the tower, Mr Daniels said he saw ”countless people in their flats looking out of their windows or hammering on their windows”.

He added: “Sometimes it was entire families. This lasted for about five or six hours.

“People were jumping from their windows. I did not see every person who jumped, but I knew each time it happened as the whole crowd gasped

“There were bloodcurdling screams coming from people inside the building and also from those who were outside watching.

“The most distressing thing that I saw was a family somewhere between the 10th and 15th floor, banging and shouting against their window, and then the lights going out.”

Mr Daniels also told the inquiry he had concerns about his father’s safety prior to the fire.

“It did not feel safe for him to be on the 16th floor due to his limited mobility combined with his mental health difficulties,” he said.

“I worried about what would happen if there was a fire. It turns out my concerns were warranted.”

The inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster is hearing evidence from survivors at Holborn Bars, a conference centre in central London.