By Eric King-
The first fire brigade incident commander at the Greenfell Tower fire has admitted he failed to make numerous required checks on the safety of the building in the months before the disaster and told the public inquiry he had no idea that fires could spread through cladding.
Michael Dowden, a firefighter for 14 years and watch manager at North Kensington fire station, admitted being unaware of the risks to the building, the evacuation strategy, and the overall vulnerabilities of its residents.
Dowden shocked the inquiry when he said he was not aware that combustible facades were put on the outside, despite the fact they had been shown with pictures of cladding fires in Dubai, China, Azerbaijan, Chechnya and in the UK.
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He said that he had received no training in what to look for when undertaking familiarisation checks of buildings and when he did visit GreEnfell in 2016, he did not inspect any of the cladding works, the conditions of the fire doors or could not remember if he went up the tower.
It was supposed to inform them of the dimensions of the building, number of flats, hydrant and dry riser locations, fire lift locations, stairwells, entrances, exits, sprinklers and the surrounding streets.
Dowden described in graphic detail the burning debris falling from the tower, highly toxic smoke, and women and children passing him on the stairwell informing him that their loved ones were dead. He said at one point he suggested his firefighters use tables as shields to protect themselves from the debris.
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