A Grenfell Tower fire survivor who foresaw the disaster has said the government should be ‘ashamed’ that many Britons are still in danger five years later.
Ed Daffarn, speaking ahead of the fifth anniversary tomorrow, called Grenfell a “three-act catastrophe,” with the third act being a half-decade of “betrayal” by the housing department.
On June 14, 2017, Mr Daffarn survived his 16th story flat amid choking smoke, while 72 others died in the West London fire.
The first ‘act’ was abuse by landlords, who refused to address inhabitants’ health and safety concerns, and the second was the’sheer brutality and anguish’ people in the tower experienced on the night of the fire, according to him.
Residents were ‘simply left on the street’ in the days after the fire, according to the 59-year-old social worker, who lived in the tower for 15 years. She said that they have felt ‘abandoned’ ever since.
Mr Daffarn said locals felt that way because ‘little has changed’ since then, with few of the public inquiry’s recommendations becoming law, and many social housing residents still living in buildings encased in the materials blamed for the fire’s fast spread.
Mr Daffarn, speaking from his new house in north Kensington, lambasted the several housing secretaries who have been in charge since the disaster.
He said: ‘We’re now five years into the saga and we’ve travelled so little distance up the road in terms of change that it feels almost like a betrayal.
‘Those people with the responsibility to bring us change have acted in such an incompetent and indifferent manner to us that we are where we are.
‘The fact that tonight, disabled people who live in high-rise buildings face the exact same danger as residents of Grenfell faced on the night of June 14, 2017, should bring shame on this Government.’
Mr Daffarn, who wrote a blog post predicting the danger before it happened, continued: ‘We’ve had so many different housing secretaries that I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had to re-tell our story.
‘I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told “I’m different from the last person” – and then six months later we’re fighting to get an appointment with them and nothing has changed.
‘Five years later on there have been small changes but the big changes haven’t happened.’
He slammed the Government for failing to legally require landlords to develop personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for disabled tenants in the case of a fire, citing the ‘glacial progress’ of a safety measure passing through Parliament.
Nobody has been arrested or held responsible for the fire, which has sparked a big debate among campaigners, who recently staged a Jubilee celebration with 72 empty chairs, questioning why no charges had been made.
Mr Daffarn, who is also a member of the Grenfell United campaign committee, will be among those attending further memorial ceremonies on Tuesday.
This will involve a quiet 6.30 p.m. walk from the base of the tower, which will be cordoned off so that survivors, bereaved families, and community groups can pay their respects.
A memorial ceremony will be held at Westminster Abbey, and a 72-second moment of silence will be observed at Westfield retail complex, following which the names of the 72 victims will be read aloud over the public address system.
Karim Mussilhy, a 36-year-old member of Grenfell United, will pay tribute to his uncle, Hesham Rahman.
He said: ‘There’s nothing that we can do to heal the pain that we’re going through, but at least we remember them together.
‘And through doing what we’re doing, hopefully, one day, they can be remembered not the way that they are now, by this culture of neglect, but by some positivity that came out of it, and people’s lives were saved because of them.’
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities claims it is taking steps to ensure buildings are safer.
A spokesman said: ‘The Grenfell Tower tragedy must never be allowed to happen again and our thoughts are with the bereaved families, survivors and residents.
‘So far, 45 of the UK’s biggest house builders have signed our developer pledge and will contribute £5 billion to fix their unsafe buildings.
‘We expect them to work swiftly so people feel safe in their homes, and we will be carefully scrutinising their progress.
‘The Building Safety Act brings forward the biggest improvements in building safety for a generation, giving more rights and protections for residents than ever before.’