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'We just couldn't get to some people in time we lost them'
Justin Davenport, Crime Editor6 Jul 2009
The first emergency call about a fire in a tower block in south London came in at 4.19pm last Friday.
It was a sunny day and the Wimbledon semi-final between Andy Roddick and Andy Murray was already well under way. Many of the residents of the 92 flats at Lakanal House in Camberwell were at home and looking forward to the weekend.
For the fire crews that rushed to the scene the incident was only a little out of the ordinary. They were well-prepared and experienced in dealing with fires in high-rise blocks. Normally they were easily contained.
When the first crews arrived it became clear that the seat of the fire appeared to be on the ninth floor - at the very limit of the fire brigade ladders.
It was decided that an operational command centre, what the fire crews call a bridgehead, would be established two floors below the main fire to allow them to operate in safety - standard procedure for fighting fires in tower blocks. The units had arrived within five minutes of the first call and by now it was becoming clear that this was no ordinary fire.
Dozens of 999 calls were being made, many of them from residents saying they were trapped.
Firefighters set up operations on the seventh floor and immediately began to fight the blaze. For every fireman inside, a colleague stands outside as back-up as well as providing water and communications. Within minutes things began to go wrong.
It quickly became apparent that the fire had spread so fast that there were blazes both above and below the bridgehead on the seventh floor.
London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Nick Collins, who was not at the scene but was one of the most senior officers on duty, said the crews operating on the seventh and ninth floors were in great danger.
A decision was taken to re-locate the bridgehead to a safe area on the third floor, below the seat of the fire. Fire chiefs also ordered in nine special fire rescue units.
These are special fire engines equipped with a range of rescue equipment including specialist breathing apparatus that allows for extended searches. The tenders were first ordered by the LFB after the experience of the New York fire brigade in tackling the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
Mr Collins said the firefighters were now tackling multiple fires on different floors. The 11th floor was the seat of one of the fiercest blazes.
By now it was clear that the Lakanal House blaze was not behaving as it should. Mr Collins said: "It is very unusual to see a fire spread like this outside of the flat where it started. Clearly it spread in this case and at the moment we do not know why."
One possibility is that plastic windows installed when the block was refurbished in 2007 melted in the extreme heat and spread the fire.
As the fire crews fought their way through dense smoke inside the building their colleagues outside were trying to direct them to people trapped on the balconies.
The operation was taking time. Mr Collins said: "We were bringing large numbers of people out. One crew would go in reach someone and then as they were bringing them out hear about someone else. They would drop people and get new air and go back in immediately.
"Some of the firefighters went back in three or four times. They were working at their very limits. We are extremely proud of them."
By now time was running out. The fire crews had to work their way up to the upper levels, checking every flat.
Mr Collins said "This was a very serious fire, particularly on the 11th floor. It did take us longer to get to the 11th floor but it was not for lack of trying.
"We just could not get to some people in time and we lost them. The crews are as upset as anyone about this."
Fire crews brought out 50 to 70 people from the burning building and officials believe they saved many lives.
