'We just couldn't believe what we were seeing': Hero firefighter tells of harrowing scenes at Grenfell Tower fire

Heroes: London's firefighters say they have been overwhelmed by support from the public
AP
Hatty Collier19 June 2017

A London firefighter has told of the harrowing scenes he and his colleagues were confronted with as they tried to rescue people trapped in the Grenfell Tower blaze.

Damian Magee said the scene was “like a war zone” as he arrived at the 24-storey west London tower block to the sounds of children desperately screaming for help.

In an interview with Sky News, he said firefighters dodged flaming debris falling from the tower as they fought the raging inferno in Notting Hill in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“I couldn’t tell you how many people were trapped. What I can tell you is the screaming, children screaming, and particular other residents in the block,” he said.

Brave London firefighter Damian Magee
Sky News

“Particularly, I could remember one kid’s voice that was sticking out higher pitched than all the other voices, screaming for help.

“They probably had some sort of hope seeing all the Fire Brigade down there, like you would do.”

He said he and his colleagues were praying that they were heading towards a new building under construction rather than a tower block filled with people as they drove towards the blaze.

Grenfell Tower Firefighters - In pictures

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“We just couldn’t believe what we were seeing, no-one in the truck. Everybody was just in shock and we were miles and miles away,” he added.

Mr Magee and his crew had to abandon their fire engine and run to the scene because of traffic and people streaming into the area outside of the danger zone.

“Our governor and the boys, we got the BA [breathing apparatus] sets on, we grabbed the thermal image camera because we knew we would need that, we locked the truck and we ran the rest of the way to the incident through the crowds and the traffic.

Fire tore through the west London tower block  Wednesday morning
Jeremy Selwyn

“And the whole way just in awe of what we were seeing, it was like something out of a movie.”

More than 200 firefighters were called to the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday and commissioner Dany Cotton said crews would remain at the scene for many days.

London Fire Brigade said the service has been “overwhelmed” by the support it has received from all over the world.

Emergency services scrambled to the scene in a race to save lives shortly before 1am.

Onlookers were seen applauding firefighters in the streets as they came off shift, while cafes threw open their doors to offer free refreshments to the workers left shattered by a 10-hour battle against the blaze.

At least 30 people are known to have died in the tragedy with “unknown numbers” of people still missing.

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