London inferno: ‘Tell them to get out now’ ... how the Grenfell Tower fire unfolded

IT’S the deadly blaze that blindsided residents of a London apartment building. This is how the horrific fire at the Grenfell Tower unfolded.

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AS the police officer called people to the roadblock underneath the Grenfell Towers, families pressed up to the police tape, desperate for news.

But when he told them to tell their relatives to get out — don’t wait for the fire brigade — a gasp went up from the several hundred people waiting on the street.

“Listen to me ... listen ... if you know people inside, tell them to self evacuate ... do not wait for the fire brigade,’’ he called out.

“If you get a phone call or twitter tell them, you tell them, to get out now.”

One woman called out “how do they self-evacuate from the 23rd floor?

There were chaotic scenes as fire engulfed Grenfell Tower, a residential apartment block in west London, killing at least six residents. Picture: AFP

‘Listen to me.’ A man is rescued by fire fighters from the burning building. Picture: Getty Images

‘Tell them to get out now.’ Firefighters on the scene of a devastating fire that raged in a high-rise apartment building in London. Picture: AP

“Do you want them to jump from a window?’’

The policeman told the crowd to tell their families and friends to put a wet tea-towel over their face, get low beneath the smoke and get out.

Coming about three hours after the fire first erupted, it was a horrifying reality check which confirmed people were still inside the burning building.

Flames billowed from the block of flats. Picture: AFP

One woman screamed and collapsed on to the street, helped up by another woman and a paramedic.

DEADLY LONDON INFERNO

Further along the police line, a young man stood quietly weeping, his head on a friend’s shoulder.

The burning tower could be seen clearly from the roadblock near the Latimer Road underground station, and debris and soot rained onto the road and onto the distressed relatives and neighbours outside.

Horrific scenes. Residents ‘screamed and collapsed onto the street’, according to witnesses. Picture: Getty Images

Two women in headscarves walked around with plastic bags full of water bottles, handing them out to those who were coughing from the acrid smoke.

People pulled up in taxis and Ubers to offer water and biscuits, and a woman turned up with a car boot full of clothes for “the people who have lost their houses.’’

The police directed her to a volunteer centre nearby.

Two survivors hug within the security cordon as Grenfell Tower. Picture: AFP

A triage centre was opened on the floor of the Garden Bar and Grill on Latimer Road and police, firefighters and paramedics escorted residents, many wearing oxygen masks, inside for medical aid. Some were taken back out on stretchers.

One man who was taken to the triage centre spotted a relative in the crowd and rushed to the police tape, weeping as he held his arm and asking repeatedly, “why, why?’’

A man and a woman came to the police line and asked if their relative was inside the triage centre.

They showed the policeman a photograph on their phone. He took it inside, compared it to the people there, and walked back out, handing their phone back and saying, “I’m sorry, they’re not here.’’

The man gulped back tears, thanked the officer, and the pair walked quietly away to the next roadblock.

Originally published as London inferno: ‘Tell them to get out now’ ... how the Grenfell Tower fire unfolded