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Rookie firefighter still on probation during Grenfell Tower disaster tells how he rescued mother and child from blaze

Harry Bettinson said he could see 'fireballs and flaming arrows' raining down outside: Jeremy Selwyn
Harry Bettinson said he could see 'fireballs and flaming arrows' raining down outside: Jeremy Selwyn

A firefighter who was still on probation at the time of the Grenfell Tower disaster has told how he rescued a young girl from the blaze.

Harry Bettinson strapped an oxygen mask to the little girl, thought to be four or five years old, and carried her down nine floors to safety.

He said he could see what looked like "fireballs and flaming arrows" raining down outside, and became aware they were "running out of time".

Mr Bettinson was giving evidence at the public inquiry into the 2017 disaster that killed 72.

The firefighter described how he waited inside a ninth floor flat with the girl and her mother while colleagues went to fetch extra breathing equipment, as conditions in the lobby were too treacherous to leave without.

He then fitted a face mask on the little girl, linked it up to his oxygen supply, and hugged her tightly to his chest as he descended the narrow stairwell.

In a written statement to the inquiry, Mr Bettinson said: "We put one of the new sets on the mum so she was wearing it on her back.

"Then got a spare mask set out and I hooked this up to my spare hose so the little girl would be breathing my air.

"She didn't fuss once, even when the mask was put over her.

"I was really taken by how calm they both were throughout."

The Paddington firefighter and his colleagues left the flat and guided the pair through the thick smoke down the "pure black" stairwell.

Mr Bettinson said they were trying to protect the mother from firefighters wearing extended breathing equipment in case they barged her as they went in the opposite direction.

He continued: "I was also having to be as careful as I was carrying the little girl, I was holding her tight to my chest. She never once made a fuss.

"At one point I grew concerned as I didn't know if she was breathing she was so still and quiet.

"I shouted at her to open her eyes and she did so I knew she was still OK."

After making it outside safely, Mr Bettinson began helping to bring casualties out of the building, estimating he saw more than a dozen bodies that night.

The Grenfell fire was only the second high-rise blaze he had attended, he said.

Thanking Mr Bettinson after his evidence, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said: "If I may say so, I think you played a very important part in the fire brigade's response and did extraordinarily well."

Additional reporting by Press Association.