Grenfell fire chief says he failed to make safety checks before disaster

The first fire brigade incident commander at the Grenfell Tower fire has admitted he failed to make numerous required checks on the safety of the building in the months before the disaster and told the public inquiry he had no idea that fires could spread through cladding.Michael Dowden, a firefighter for 14 years and watch manager at North Kensington fire station, was forced to repeatedly admit his ignorance of the risks to the building, the evacuation strategy and the vulnerability of its occu