When a Hotpoint refrigerator sparked a blaze in the lower levels of Grenfell Tower, neighbors knew it was going to get ugly pretty quick.
Within no time at all, the fire reached its burning orange claws around the sides and upper reaches of the building. It almost seemed as if Grenfell was made of paper judging by the rate at which the fire spread.
Crowds gathered with cameras at the ready as more than 200 firefighters arrived to fight the fire. They set up and hit all the strategic points but their equipment could only reach up to the 12th floor. This left twelve more floors to fend entirely for themselves.
At one point, while crews worked furiously to bring the situation under control, a woman was spotted poking out of a slightly ajar window on the tenth floor. She was gesturing with some sort of package or something in her arms. She began to rock it back and forth as if she was going to throw it.
Everyone realized what she was holding when she screamed down to them,
“I’m going to drop my baby!”
And with that, as if by slow motion footage, the tiny package was plummeting down the 100-foot drop to the ground below.
In the blink of an eye, a man darted forward and snatched the baby in his arms. It was as if he had practiced that move many times before, but in reality, he was just a quick thinker with a soft grasp.
The baby survived without any serious injuries, however, authorities believe the woman did not survive.
Bystanders also saw another woman on the fourth or fifth floor holding a four-year-old girl wearing a pink gown and a towel around her head. She held the little girl out, screaming for help as flames licked closely around them.
A man called Pat who lived close by ran into her view and yelled up to her.
“Drop her! Don’t worry, I’ll catch her!” Pat shouted up to her while gesturing to show his ability.
The woman responded with understandable unsureness, “No! No! I can’t, I can’t!”
Pat reassured her over and over until the woman realized that this was her little girl’s only hope. Without another word, the little girl was falling. Onlookers gasped; their hearts stopped for what felt like an eternity.
Pat was ready, though. He opened his arms, caught her, and tucked her into his chest like a rugby ball.
The little girl screamed hysterically both in shock and fear. She cried out for her mom even while paramedics tried to place an oxygen mask on her face. Pat sat in the grass with his back against a tree and held her tightly against his chest.
When people were reassured that the little girl was alright, they look back to the window where she fell from. Eyes were not greeted with a pleasant surprise but rather flames engulfed through that apartment and the ones around it.
It is believed that there are still around eighty people either dead or missing. However, around two hundred and fifty people have survived the disaster.
Officials say the fire raged so quickly because of the cladding covering the entirety of the structure. When Grenfell was refurbished, they saved about £300,000 ($386,505) by using an aluminum type of cladding. This kind of siding was banned on buildings over 40 feet high in the United States because it is not fire resistant enough.
Despite the tragedy, we are thankful for the heroes who worked tirelessly with rescue crews to help victims to safety!
Article via: BBC.COM & TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
