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Grenfell Tower inquiry: I wasn’t trained to evacuate towers with stay-put policy, says firefighter

Michael Dowden who was the first London Fire Brigade incident commander on the scene at Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire: PA
Michael Dowden who was the first London Fire Brigade incident commander on the scene at Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire: PA

The firefighter who led the initial response to the Grenfell Tower blaze told the inquiry into the fire that he had no training on evacuating high-rise buildings with a “stay-put” policy.

Michael Dowden, North Kensington watch manager, was the first incident commander on the scene when the fire began on June 14 last year. It is feared the London Fire Brigade’s failure to abandon stay-put advice for nearly two hours could have contributed to the death toll. Richard Millett QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Dowden whether he had training on certain aspects of national policy guidance. He said he was not aware of the document.

One read: “Incident commanders should understand when a partial or full evacuation strategy might become necessary in a residential building where a stay-put policy is normally in place.”

Asked if he had had such training, Mr Dowden replied: “As an incident commander I cannot remember any time I have actually been on a training course that would facilitate that.”

Sir Martin Moore-Bick, chairman of the inquiry, asked: “Did anyone give you any help or advice in understanding when it might be necessary to have a full evacuation … or was it just down to your personal experience?”

Mr Dowden said: “I don’t think I’ve had any input from any individual. The only way I could relate to that is reference back to our internal high-rise policy … but I don’t think I’ve been in a training environment when that’s been referenced.”

When Mr Millett asked if it would be fair to say that training was “a lot about what the policy contained but you weren’t trained in how to implement it”, Mr Dowden agreed.

Mr Millett asked the firefighter: “Did you ever receive training on the evacuation of people from the upper floors of high-rise buildings who may have mobility difficulties?”

Mr Dowden said: “Not on the practical application but more theory-based.”

Many victims of the Grenfell Tower fire were elderly, some with mobility issues, who lived on the top floors.

The commander’s training record was displayed on a screen, showing several sessions he had led on tackling high-rise blazes in previous years. He was listed as a “lecturer”, but said his lessons were never checked by superiors, only by auditors who visited occasionally.

Mr Millett asked him: “How could you know that the lectures that you were giving to your firefighters about high-rise firefighting were effective?” He replied: “I suppose the only way I could ever really do that is to see how they apply themselves on the fireground.”

The lawyer said: “Leaving it to the fireground of an actual incident? Might that not be a bit late?”

“I suppose, yes,” the fire officer replied.

Mr Dowden added that practical training for high-rise blocks was hard because few such buildings were available to use for practice scenarios.