While official advice told residents to “stay put,” many Grenfell survivors took matters into their own hands, banging on doors, alerting neighbours, and guiding people out of the building. Their actions saved lives.
Emma O’Connor
20th floorExtract from Emma’s blog about escaping the fire and how the tragedy changed her. Read the full story[R032]
“But as we looked out of our flat window, we saw flames reflected in the windows of the school next door. Then suddenly, Luke saw a window explode from a flat on the fourth floor and I knew we had to get out fast.”
Shahid Ahmed
18th floorShahid decided to leave after his kitchen window exploded. Even as he fled down the single stairwell, firefighters told him to go back up.
“I remember saying to one of them: ‘There’s a fire upstairs,’ and they told me to go back up. They had masks on. I couldn’t see their faces.”
Miguel Alves
13th floorMiguel told his children to leave the building, then knocked on every door on his floor, despite worrying his neighbours might be annoyed to be woken.
“It was my duty to help my neighbours, because they are my family; the people that live on my floor is like my family.”
Source: The Guardian, Grenfell Tower survivors tell how they ignored advice to stay put[R033]