Chapter 93: Floor 19

¶93.1 All the flats on floor 19 were occupied on the night of the fire. By 01.25, the fire had reached the top of floor 19 and was outside Flat 166.⁸¹⁷⁸¹⁷ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 10.118 and 10.122. Within a short time, nearly everyone had left their flats. By 01.30, only Flat 165, the home of Nicholas and Pily Burton, was still occupied.

¶93.2 Meron Mekonnen in Flat 163 had been alerted to the fire at 01.25 and told to leave. Although there was light smoke in the lobby when she left with her children, it did not affect her visibility or have any physical effect on her or her children. Meron Mekonnen and her children left the tower at 01.32.⁸¹⁸⁸¹⁸ Phase 1 Report Volume III Annex A.

¶93.3 Amal Ahmedin and her daughter Amaya Tuccu Ahmedin lived in Flat 166. On 14 June 2017, her cousin, Amna Idris, was visiting them. All three took shelter on floor 23, where they died. Marjorie and Ernie Vital from Flat 162 were also among those who moved to floor 23. By 01.34, they were already in Flat 202, where they also eventually died. We return to the circumstances of the deaths of these individuals in Chapter 97.

¶93.4 Fadumo Ahmed lived alone in Flat 164. At around 01.20, she received a call alerting her to the fire. When she left her flat, she found the lobby full of dark grey smoke;⁸¹⁹⁸¹⁹ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraph 10.259. it is likely that it had come from Flat 166.

¶93.5 Fadumo Ahmed saw her neighbour Deborah (Debbie) Lamprell, who lived in Flat 161, near the lifts. They both took shelter in Flat 201 on floor 23. Amal Ahmedin, her daughter and Amna Idris were already in Flat 201 when Fadumo Ahmed reached it.⁸²⁰⁸²⁰ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 10.259-10.260. Later, Fadumo Ahmed left Flat 201. She was rescued by firefighters and carried out of the tower at 02.25.⁸²¹⁸²¹ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 14.128–14.131. Debbie Lamprell died in the fire, as did a friend, Gary Maunders, who had been visiting her that night and who took shelter in Flat 203. We return to the circumstances of their deaths in Chapter 97.

¶93.6 Shortly after 01.30, Nicholas Burton was woken by the sound of banging on his front door. We do not know who banged on the door; it is possible that he was woken by the sounds of neighbours leaving. In any event, when he opened the front door, there was so much black smoke outside that he could see little.⁸²²⁸²² Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 11.56-11.57.

¶93.7 At 01.41, a BT operator informed North West Fire Control that a caller from the tower had hung up. CRO Aisha Jabin called the number back and spoke to Debbie Lamprell. She said that she was one of a group of 10 people sheltering in a flat on floor 23; she later gave her flat number as 161.⁸²³⁸²³ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 12.64-12.67 and 12.86; 999 call transcripts {MET00014977}; {LFB00055500}. Flat 161 was Debbie Lamprell's home on floor 19. The information that there were people trapped in Flat 161 on floor 23 was passed to the LFB's control room at 01.46 and to the incident ground at 01.47.⁸²⁴⁸²⁴ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraph 12.86. As a result, FFs Adam Johnson and Terence Roots were sent to Flat 161. They found it empty but found Nicholas and Pily Burton still in Flat 165 and helped them leave the tower.⁸²⁵⁸²⁵ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 12.86 and 14.116.

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Maria del Pilar ("Pily") Burton

¶Date of birth: 10 August 1946 (70 years of age). Place of birth: Ferrol, Galicia, Spain. Gender: Female. Occupation: Retired. Usual Address: Flat 165, floor 19, Grenfell Tower, London. Date of death: 29 January 2018.

Background and composition of household

¶93.8 Maria del Pilar (Pily) Burton lived with her husband Nicholas Burton and their beagle, Lewis Hamilton II, in Flat 165 on floor 19.⁸²⁶⁸²⁶ Burton {IWS00000064/2} page 2, paragraph 9. Pily had moved to Grenfell Tower in the 1970s. She worked for the National Health Service as a contract manager until she had to leave work in 2015 due to ill-health.⁸²⁷⁸²⁷ Phase 1 Report Volume IV paragraph 32.174.

Vulnerability

¶93.9 The spreadsheet produced on the night of the fire by David Noble⁸²⁸⁸²⁸ Noble {TMO00000884/1} page 1, paragraph 3. based on information held on the TMO's Capita Insight system⁸²⁹⁸²⁹ Noble {Day119/75:19-21}. identified Pily Burton as a vulnerable person but contained no information about her condition.⁸³⁰⁸³⁰ Noble spreadsheet {TMO00862588}.

Events of 14 June 2017

¶93.10 Having opened the front door of Flat 165 to find black smoke in the lobby, Nicholas Burton decided that he and Pily should remained where they were. He was aware of the stay put advice displayed in the tower. He placed wet towels across the bottom of the front door, woke Pily and helped her dress. They waited in their living room. A friend called him urging him to leave, but he felt it was too dangerous to do so as Pily was so frail.⁸³¹⁸³¹ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraph 11.57.

¶93.11 At 01.56, Nicholas Burton made a call to the emergency services which was answered by CRO Christine Howson. He told her that he was in Flat 165 on floor 19 with his wife and dog and that there was a lot of smoke in the lobby, some of which had come into the hallway of his flat when he opened the front door. CRO Howson told him that firefighters would visit them and advised him to remain in his flat.⁸³²⁸³² Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 13.75-13.77; 999 call transcript {LFB00000334}.

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¶93.12 Prompted by another call from his friend, Nicholas Burton decided that the bathroom would be the safest place in which to wait. He moved Pily there and closed all the internal doors. Seeing the glow of the fire, he made his second and final emergency call at 02.13. He told CRO Yvonne Adams that he was trapped on floor 19, that no one had come, and that the flames were getting very close to their windows. CRO Adams told him that firefighters were trying to get to people and said that he should call back if conditions in the flat deteriorated. At the time of the call, the only smoke in the flat was that which had entered from the lobby when he had opened the front door just after 01.30.⁸³³⁸³³ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraphs 14.173-14.175; 999 call transcript {LFB00000344}.

¶93.13 The bathroom was near the front door. Waiting there, Nicholas Burton heard a noise at the front door. FFs Johnson and Roots who were outside the door told him to get wet towels and to be ready to come out.⁸³⁴⁸³⁴ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraph 14.176. Having confirmed the number of people present and that the flat was not on fire, FF Johnson told the occupants to cover their heads with wet towels. He and FF Roots then searched Flat 161 before returning to Flat 165 to rescue Nicholas and Pily Burton.⁸³⁵⁸³⁵ Johnson {MET00010082/7} page 7; Johnson {Day45/14:1}-{Day45/15:20}.

¶93.14 By that time, the lobby of floor 19 was full of thick black smoke and visibility was limited. The firefighters helped the couple across the lobby, into the stairwell and down the stairs. The stairwell was also full of thick black smoke and felt very hot. Both firefighters were concerned that they were low on air and tried to descend as quickly as they could. Pily Burton fell more than once and FF Johnson had to carry her down.

¶93.15 At some point the two firefighters became separated. FF Roots and Nicholas Burton reached the ground floor first, but Nicholas Burton refused to leave the building until he knew where his wife was. At about floor 10, two other firefighters appeared and helped FF Johnson to carry Pily Burton. They reached the ground floor a few minutes after Nicholas Burton. He followed as Pily Burton was carried out of the tower.⁸³⁶⁸³⁶ Johnson {MET00010082/9-10} pages 9-10; Roots {MET00012876/6-7} pages 6-7; Burton {IWS00000064/12-13} pages 12-13, paragraphs 54-56. The couple left the tower at 02.32.⁸³⁷⁸³⁷ Phase 1 Report Volume II paragraph 14.179.

¶93.16 FFs Johnson and Roots returned to the bridgehead and told WM O'Keeffe that they had brought two casualties down from Flat 165. They gave the same information to a firefighter who was recording information about people needing to be rescued and saw him write something on a wall.⁸³⁸⁸³⁸ Johnson {MET00010082/10} page 10.

Information to the incident ground

¶93.17 No service requests were generated in response to either of Nicholas Burton's 999 calls⁸³⁹⁸³⁹ Short Incident Log Report {MET00013830/21-22}. and no firefighters were deployed to Flat 165.

The circumstances of Pily Burton's death

¶93.18 Pily Burton's condition deteriorated in the months that followed her escape from Grenfell Tower. She suffered a severe stroke in early January 2018 and died in hospital on 29 January 2018 with Nicholas Burton by her side.⁸⁴⁰⁸⁴⁰ Phase 1 Report Volume IV paragraph 32.174.

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