Kriti Mehrotra
It was on June 14, 2017, when the entire world turned upside down for hundreds of individuals and families residing in Grenfell Tower in London, England, as it became engulfed in fire. The structure was made of pure concrete, yet its recent external renovation for aesthetics had resulted in it being wrapped in a cladding of aluminum sheets with a combustible polyethylene. It turns out this component played a major role in the rapid blaze spread, as also explored in Netflix’s ‘Grenfell: Uncovered,’ something Eddie Daffarn had already raised concerns about.
Eddie Daffarn is Much More Than a Former Resident of Grenfell Tower
Born and raised in the Kensington-Chelsea area, Edward “Eddie” Daffarn has never been a stranger to how the local Tenant Management Organization treated its working-class residents. The truth is he graduated from Woolverstone Hall Grammar School in Ipswich before finding himself returning to his borough and ultimately settling down in Grenfell Tower in 2001. It was while he lived here that he graduated from Brunel University with his Bachelor’s, kickstarted his career as a Mental Health Social Worker, and even evolved into a well-known figure.
According to Eddie’s own accounts, he was not only friendly with his neighbors but also came to know others in the apartment complex while delivering leaflets to their respective floors. As if that’s not enough, he was heavily involved in advocating for issues regarding their amenities, refurbishments, and safety to the TMO and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. He never claimed to be an expert, but he didn’t hesitate to raise any concerns that he believed could affect the quality of life for any leaseholder in the building, including those who are disabled.
However, because most complaints were reportedly cavalierly dismissed, Eddie and a friend of his from another floor, Francis O’Connor, established the Grenfell Action Group (GAG) in 2010. Less than two years later, the duo even began writing on their blog, exposing the many issues within their community in the hopes of attention and action from the responsible authorities. Then, this tenant of apartment 134 on the 16th floor also helped form/lead a Residents Association for the Tower under the banner of Grenfell Community Unite and later Grenfell Compact.
Eddie Daffarn Managed to Escape the Grenfell Tower Fire Before It Was Too Late
On the night of the fateful fire, Eddie was admittedly alone in his apartment and listening to the radio as was his routine — he did often fall asleep before 1 am with it still on, but not this night. He was actually wide awake even at 1:10 am, which is when he heard his neighbor’s smoke alarm going off, followed by loud commotion in the hallway. He thought his neighbor had probably just burned some food or something since his alarm was silent, yet he still decided to get out of bed and check. Little did he know that as soon as he’d open his front door, he’d be hit with a gush of dark, thick smog that smelled of terrible toxins and made him gag, all the while not being able to see anything.
Eddie closed the door within seconds, but it was enough for these fumes to start making their way in, yet he still followed his gut instinct of staying put, since that’s what the Tower’s regulations were. That’s when he got a call from a neighbor named Willie Thompson who was outside the building, and without wasting a moment, he ordered the Social Worker to get out as quickly as possible. The force with which Willie was talking made him realize something was terribly wrong, so he didn’t ask any questions, quickly dampened a towel, placed it on his face, and tried to make his way out.
As per Eddie’s own accounts, the smoke was so thick he couldn’t see past his nose, and the amount of it made it clear to him that this was no small fire, even though he couldn’t see flames or feel heat. It took him a while to find the emergency exit and stairwell because he had to resort to using both his hands to find his way, but he thankfully made it down and was out of the building at 1:37 am. He realized later that he’d grabbed his keys as well as his cell phone out of habit, only to already have his bank cards in the pocket of his pink shorts — almost everything else he owned was incinerated.
Eddie Daffarn Has Spent the Past Eight Years Fighting For Justice
Although Eddie doesn’t remember all the details of his time on the stairwell during his escape, he does remember the immediate aftermath of it because he felt as if he was “wailing from inside his soul.” He could see the building he’d called home for the past 16 years getting engulfed in flames, after which all he could think of was how many people were still inside and what would happen to them. This is when the tears came — he was utterly distraught, only for the next few days to bring the survivors of this community further grief as they learned that a total of 72 people had lost their lives.
However, it’s imperative to note that these survivors were also extremely frustrated because they still weren’t being heard by authorities — after all, they’d raised concerns about fire safety before. In fact, in a Grenfell Action Group blog post dated November 20, 2016, eight months before the fateful June 14, 2017, Eddie had candidly penned that the recent renovations could lead to a serious fire. This came after he’d spent months trying to catch the attention of the TMO and RBKC by raising the different concerns all tenants had regarding the cladding installation, including fire safety, the need for emergency vehicle access, window concerns, exposed or deeply boxed-in pipes, water issues, etc.
In the end, upon receiving no response or noting actions to deal with these problems, Eddie penned that it was the GAG’s conviction that only a catastrophic event would expose their neglect. Therefore, of course, when a public inquiry was launched into this tragic event, he submitted 2 127-page statements, wherein he didn’t hold back on anything and even gave evidence to back his accusations. He also sat through all 400 days of the evidence revelation, either in person or via YouTube. The results of this inquiry were released in September 2024. Yet, justice is still far from being served because criminal investigations are still ongoing, so all this now 63-year-old can do is continue his fight.
Coming to Eddie’s personal standing, from what we can tell, he has since managed to find another permanent place for himself in London to call home, where he is now rebuilding his life from the ground up. However, as he is now retired, he spends most of his days either pursuing his passion for bird watching, replacing the pot of beautiful feathers he’d lost in the fire, or traveling to experience new cultures. He does grapple with survivor’s guilt as well as anger over the fact that this tragedy could have been avoided, but he seems to be doing his best to move on while keeping the legacy of those lost alive in his heart. That’s why he partakes in the yearly silent marches to the Grenfell Tower, is now associated with Grenfell United, and is sad about the government’s decision to dismantle the structure soon.
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