Emotional firefighter recalls arrival at Grenfell Tower blaze flat

One of the first firefighters to enter the Grenfell Tower inferno broke down in tears as footage of his arrival at the flat of origin was played to an inquiry.

Charles Batterbee, a crew manager at North Kensington fire station, was one of two officers tasked with extinguishing a kitchen fire on the fourth floor of the block.

Thermal imaging footage taken as the pair approached flat 16 at 1.07am on 14 June 2017 was played on screen at the inquiry into the disaster.

Mr Batterbee, who joined the London Fire Brigade in 2010, was giving evidence on Thursday and became visibly overcome with emotion.

He began breathing heavily when his colleague, Daniel Brown, was shown in the footage.

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick asked: “Are you OK to watch this?”

Mr Batterbee replied: “Can I have a break?”

“Yes, of course you can,” replied Sir Martin.

The firefighter was then led from the room by an usher, wiping his eyes as he walked.

He is the second firefighter to become distressed while recounting the night of the blaze at the hearing.

On Tuesday, Michael Dowden, the watch manager who was in charge of the operational response for the first hour of the blaze, wept after seeing footage of the burning tower.

As he tackled the fire, Mr Batterbee suffered a number of injuries, including heat exhaustion and minor smoke inhalation.