Grenfell victims 'should have been told by 999 that helicopter rescues were not possible'

Grenfell Tower residents should have been clearly told by 999 call handlers that police helicopters circling the burning block were not able rescue them, a report has suggested.

The police watchdog launched an investigation after a man who lost six relatives in the disaster complained that the presence of police aircraft contributed to the death toll.

Nabil Choucair, whose relatives died on the 22nd floor, said residents stayed in the inferno because the sight of helicopters made them believe an air rescue was possible.

He also raised concerns that the propellers of the helicopters could have helped to fan the flames of the fire, which left 72 dead when it devastated the west London block in June 2017.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has now published a detailed report into the role of police helicopters on the night of the fire, concluding the complaints should not be upheld.

It did, however, find that 999 operators who took calls from people trapped in the tower displayed a “lack of understanding” about what the helicopters could do and gave “unclear” answers when asked about their presence.

One of the London Fire Brigade’s control room officers, Christine Howson, told the Grenfell Tower inquiry in 2018 that she may have inadvertently offered false hope to a family of five who believed a helicopter rescue was feasible.

Det Sgt Chris Griffith, who was the investigating officer for the watchdog, said in his report: “Whilst no emergency service call handler specifically told any caller that there would be a helicopter rescue, or led them to believe there might be, they were often (but not always) unable to respond to the requests for a helicopter so provided no direct response at all.”

He recommended that call handlers for the emergency services should be trained to “explicitly inform” any callers who mention helicopter rescues that police aircraft do not have this capability.

There was also evidence of “public misunderstanding”, the report said, as witnesses outside the tower thought the helicopters were there to either drop water on the fire or rescue people with ropes or ladders.

Mr Choucair criticised the IOPC’s conclusions on Wednesday, telling the Telegraph: “I’m very disgusted and disappointed in how they have tried to put the blame on the fire brigade control room and our families, by saying the families, out of panic and desperation, were trying to call for the helicopters.

“I’m sorry, that is not true - the police helicopters were the ones who caused panic and desperation by being there. These families all thought these were their rescue helicopters.

“Several families on the top floor and from the middle going upwards were saying they wanted to be rescued by a helicopter - especially my family.”

Mr Choucair lost his mother, Sirria, sister Nadia, her husband Bassem and their three children, Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and Zainab, three, in the fire.

Six different helicopters from the National Police Air Service (NPAS) were deployed to the fire tasked with “evidential photography” and variously remained in attendance for 14 hours, the report said.

Multiple families trapped on the upper floors of the tower were found to have repeatedly asked call handlers about the possibility of a helicopter rescue.

Transcripts of 999 calls made from the flat where Hashim Kedir was sheltering with his wife Nura Jemal, daughter Firdaws Hashim, 12, and sons Yahya Hashim, 13, and Yaqub Hashim, six, showed one of them asking: “Could you get a chopper or something? Could you get a helicopter or something to get us out?”

Ms Howson, the control room officer, replied: “There’s one there, okay, all right?”

She previously admitted to the public inquiry she “possibly” could have offered false hope to the family, who died in their flat on the 22nd floor, but said it had not been her intention.

Similar questions were asked by the family of Mr Choucair, but they were told more explicitly by the 999 operator that a helicopter rescue would not be an option, the report concluded.

The IOPC’s report also found that none of the helicopters “flew close enough to the tower for their rotor wash to have worsened the fire”.