Five years on revisiting the story of the 21st floor of Grenfell - BBC Newsnight

what would you say to the person that you were before grandfather now five years on i miss you i miss you i would say i miss you in the early hours of june the 14th 2017 a fridge caught fire in a flat at grenfell tower west london [Music] instead five years on it continues to devastate lives i've heard from people you know it's five years get over it it doesn't work that way i will never get out of what happened [Music] five years before somebody hasn't gone through it may seem like a long time for me it seems like it was on yesterday we've been filming with marcio gomez since soon after he and his family escaped from the 21st floor of grenfell tower there's not one day that i don't think about grenfell i still have flashbacks i was type of person that would never even give depression a look i always just say oh yeah depressing that's not for me i don't do depression but that's totally wrong the depression has taken a big hold of my life ahead of the anniversary survivors grenfell residents people involved in the rescue that night and those who lost loved ones are holding a memorial football day at queen's park rangers in west london close to the tower people bonded forever by tragedy heavily reliant on each other for comfort coming together with everybody that that survived the town with the families actually has a positive impact you don't have to talk about greenfield because everybody sort of knows what happens all right one two look at the camera just just smile or it warms you [Applause] 72 people lost their lives as a result of the fire the youngest was marcio's unborn son logan his mother andrea breathed in so much smoke and toxic gas that night though she survived he was still born in hospital nine weeks before his due date i had his name on my shirt that to me was just a way to to say that i'm playing i'm doing this for you it's getting harder there's a reason why we're doing this and let's keep that in mind that's all i've got to say let's keep that in mind we are still in pain emotionally we are still suffering it hasn't gotten easier it's in fact got harder harlan wahhabi and her family also survived the fire fleeing in their pajamas as smoke filled the staircase i have flashbacks i have nightmares i still struggle to with sleep i struggle with falling asleep when i do fall asleep i'm woken up by nightmares i just feel drained physically and emotionally drained hanan was a teacher in a school near grenfell tower but she gave it up last year it was too much for both her and her pupils even four years on it's not found the children to to be exposed to the impact of ptsd you know they'd see me collapse in my at work they'd see that happen and they'd see staff running to my aid that's that's traumatic for them to see hanan lived on the ninth floor of grenfell tower her brother and his family lived much higher up on the 21st soon after the fire we pieced together the story of that floor in flat 182 lived hanan's brother abdul aziz al-wahhabi his wife fauzier their children yasin nahuda and mehdi next door in flat 183 were marcio gomez andrea who was heavily pregnant and their two daughters nine people survived from the 21st floor that night six perished including all five of hannah's loved ones sometimes you just you feel the pain and you kind of just hold it you know sometimes if you cut your finger with a knife you just hold it it's just like that it's there you can feel the throbbing but you're just literally holding and then sometimes you just can't hold it and it's just gushing i struggled a lot i feel guilty that we made it out and like the rest of my family didn't grenfell tower still stands five years on a reminder of that awful night casting its shadow across west london and wider for five years we have brought you the personal stories of what happened to its residents as we've learned about how companies and regulators failed to protect them we first met marcio and andrea in the hotel room they were moved to after the fire andrea and their daughters had been in induced comas in hospital it was there logan was still born the pain of losing him is just as heavy five years on he wasn't even able to take a breath it's it's still difficult to deal with i go to his grave we speak a lot it sounds weird but we do i have his picture there um which is something that i look i look at it every day yeah he's he's always going to be part of our lifestyle [Music] in this community finding closure is linked to getting justice but what happened at grenfell is still being investigated all these years on there have been no charges nobody yet held accountable the police have said they won't pass any evidence to prosecutors until the grenfell tower inquiry has finished its work set up by the government soon after the fire it's already been going for four years after it opened in 2018 marcio gave grueling evidence as the inquiry examined what happened on the night of the fire marcio told the inquiry he'd called 999 several times that night stay put and wait to be rescued they were told until the flames reached the flat for five years here why is it right there's a fire engine now the fire's here the fire is in the house the fire's in the house now right so if the fire is in the house get out the house don't stay in the house the inquiry heard that marcio's family fled their flat 183 at around 3 30 am heading into the dark smoke-filled stairwell in flat 182 hanan's relatives have been told by the london fire brigade to move into the bedroom and put wet towels around the door i know that you had the 999 call recordings and transcripts they were given false hope by the lfb operators they may well have survived if they didn't listen to the stay put advice there's a memorial garden to hanan's family in a primary school near the tower the inquiry says if the fire brigade had told people to get out much earlier instead of sticking to its stay put advice more lives would have been saved in a refurbishment in the years before the fire cladding was added to grenfell tower it transpired it was highly flammable and on the night it took just 18 minutes for the flames to reach the top of the building the inquiry's been investigating the actions that led to this by local and central government by the refurbishment companies by the manufacturers of the cladding it's almost like a perfect storm everyone just allowing it to get through and it feels like it was profit ahead of lives the mistakes the lies have been exposed you can see why grenfell happened ever since the fire the local community has marched regularly alongside survivors in the bereaved to remember the victims and demand change because many hundreds of other buildings are still covered in dangerous cladding even now for five years a battle has been fought over who will pay to make them safe people are still living in dangerous materials around them and and another grenfell can can happen and are you waiting for another grenfell to happen so then you can do something about it we've been through what we've been through and we can't change that if we can influence and change those buildings and make their home safe for them for the kids then you know it's what we need to do grenfell happened because of decisions by so many by the companies who represented their products as safe on tool blocks though they lacked valid tests by the refurbishment contractors accused of cost cutting and a disregard for human life by the regulators that failed to make proper checks and by the politicians who didn't tighten the rules despite warnings but as the inquiry is finding few accept any real responsibility for their part in it the lawyer for the inquiry called it a merry-go-round of buck passing when it came to the companies is that how it's felt that's exactly how it's felt that's exactly how it's felt each individual needs to be held accountable for what they have done the same way any other person would be held accountable for their criminal doings and if it ends up with fines you know rulings about breaches of health and safety law what will that do to you what will that do to the community that's not enough that is not enough that's not enough i won't be happy the whole community won't be happy they'll be up raw if that's what happens [Music] one night of horror five years of suffering and the personal toll of what happened at grenfell is still playing out in mental and physical health problems for those caught up in it in profound grief and in the breakdown of relationships that seemed strong before the fire you can imagine that four individuals husband wife myself my husband at the time six-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter or placed in one room or struggling with grief or trying to deal with what had happened it was toxic the environment was toxic yeah we separated a few months after i'm divorced now it was a constant reminder of looking at each other you know my ex-wife you say we remind each other what happens you know from a negative perspective for years on we had to call it a day really we tried but it just got to a point where we just couldn't anymore [Music] what happens to this tower what any lasting memorial here might look like is still being decided for the bereaved though it is a shrine to their loved ones and a way of making sure they're not forgotten i'll get drawn to it just anytime i'm in the area it's kind of peaceful in a very weird way it just helps me heal and i think it just helps me move forward when you look at it you will remember exactly what happened one night your life can change for forever i can see the top of the tower from where i live i take comfort in seeing the heart the side of the heart that i can see is where my brother lived i can see my brother's bedroom window the space of where he died with his wife and his children it's difficult it's very difficult but i take comfort it's like he's still there [Music] comfort also comes from being with each other people once connected because they live together in a high-rise block in london now linked by a night which fractured their lives forever only they can fully understand what they went through as they faced this five-year anniversary together

Channel: BBC News

Views: 71,592

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news

Id: JrWDcGhDAi0

Length: 13min 26sec (806 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 14 2022