Grenfell inquiry: Firefighter ‘dangled from window’
One of the first firefighters to enter Grenfell Tower has told how he clung to his colleague as he dangled out of a window trying to put out rising flames.
Charles Batterbee and Daniel Brown had extinguished the source of the fire in flat 16's kitchen only to notice fire on the outside of the high-rise.
Mr Batterbee said he held Mr Brown's legs as he lent out of the burnt window frame to direct his hose upwards.
"I'm holding on to him for dear life," he told the Grenfell public inquiry.
"I'm digging my hips into the [kitchen] counter so we don't both go together," he added.
Meanwhile, he said burning debris was falling past the fourth floor window of the flat they were in.
"I could see an amount of debris and noise... when I say violent, it just rained fire.
"At that time I was thinking it is jumping multiple floors.
"It didn't slow, it got worse."
- Grenfell Inquiry: What five reports reveal
- What happened at Grenfell Tower
- Visual guide to the fire
He also told the hearing that the heat in the kitchen was something he had never experienced before in training or operationally.
Mr Batterbee, who joined the London Fire Brigade in 2010, earlier broke down in tears when thermal imaging footage of him going into flat 16 was first shown.
The chairman ordered that they take a break to let Mr Batterbee compose himself.
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceIn a written statement, Mr Batterbee said the night of 14 June last year was "hell" and there were "no words to describe how powerless I felt" when he was on the phone to a trapped resident.
He said the fire had been "life-changing and potentially career-changing in a way I can never really describe".
"I don't really think that there are any words to really capture this horrific event - this was the worst thing that I have ever experienced and witnessed."
His crewmate, Daniel Brown, is due to give evidence later.
The inquiry into the tower block fire in west London, which caused 72 deaths, is currently examining what happened when the blaze broke out on 14 June 2017.
