4.8 • 627 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
On the top floor of Grenfell Tower, Marcio Gomes and his family are waiting. Outside, the fire has wrapped itself around 3 sides of the building. But Marcio can’t see any of this. He’s relying on the information given to him by 999 call handlers, and they are telling residents they are safest to remain where they are. Marcio has a decision to make: does he wait for firefighters to reach him, or does he take his pregnant wife and daughters into the black void of suffocating smoke that has gathered in front of his door.
In this episode, Kate tells the story of the final hours of the fire - of Rania Ibrahim and her daughters and Marcio Gomes and his family.
Presenter: Kate Lamble Producer: Josephine Casserly Production coordinator: Janet Staples Audio engineers: James Beard and Gareth Jones Story consultant: Simon Maybin Editor: Penny Murphy
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0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
0:05.4 | Before you listen to this episode, I just want to let you know it contains some distressing content. |
0:16.7 | What's that feeling of waiting like? |
0:19.8 | It's horrible, to be honest, because it seems like a lifetime. |
0:24.6 | With the kids, I was just trying to keep them calm as much as possible. |
0:29.6 | At one stage I had them sit down on the floor in a sitting room |
0:33.6 | because the smoke was coming in and it was coming down from the ceiling. |
0:38.9 | On the 21st floor of Grenfell Tower, Marcio Gomez has a decision to make. |
0:44.6 | It's just gone 220 in the morning. |
0:47.1 | He's sheltering in his flat with his wife, Andrea, who's seven months pregnant, |
0:51.4 | his two daughters, who were 10 and 12, his neighbour, Helen Gebram Escal |
0:55.5 | and her daughter. Outside, the fire was wrapping around three sides of the building. And while from |
1:02.7 | the window, he could see blue lights and commotion, hear vague yells from the people below, he couldn't |
1:08.6 | see flames, couldn't imagine the scale of what was unfolding. |
1:12.9 | What Marcio did know is that beyond the front door, a black void of smoke had collected. |
1:18.7 | Your brain goes into that flight or fight mode. And you knew, serious, but I didn't know exactly what |
1:25.0 | to do. In that situation, you put your faith in experts, |
1:31.1 | and Marcio has been told by 999 call handlers |
1:34.0 | that there are firefighters coming to reach them. |
1:39.9 | This is the story of a fire which killed 72 people, |
1:44.6 | a fire both foreseeable and preventable. |
1:47.8 | And what it tells us about the people and policies meant to protect us. |
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