In the early hours of June 14, 2017, the 999 control centre in Stratford received what at first seemed like a routine call. A man reported that the fridge-freezer in his fourth-floor flat had caught fire. He was in Grenfell Tower, in north Kensington, within easy reach for the nearby fire station.
It was a hot night. This was another record-breaking June, and it was also Ramadan: there were more people about than usual as the first four fire engines soon arrived on scene. The resident of flat 16 had done everything right. Having called the fire brigade he ensured that all occupants on his floor left the building. The fire brigade also acted exactly in the way they had been trained – sending officers with hoses to put out the fire. No need to panic: after all, there had been fires before in Grenfell, all of them extinguished without loss of life.
