'HOW COULD HE?'
Firefighter took selfie in front of smouldering Grenfell Tower and used it for his Tinder profile
A FIREFIGHTER took a selfie in front of the smouldering Grenfell Tower then used it for his Tinder profile.
The horror blaze ripped through the block of flats in West London in June 2017, tragically killing 72 people.
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The shocking revelation was made during a London Assembly meeting yesterday which reviewed the culture of the city's fire service.
Report author Nazir Afzal told attendees: "In the immediate aftermath of Grenfell, after the fire had just been raging, a male firefighter had a selfie taken of himself outside the building, which he then used as his Tinder profile.
"He was quickly told to get rid of it. He was subsequently given, I understand, words of warning."
Mr Afzal, the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for north-west England, then asked the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee: "How did he feel entitled to do that?
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"Why did he feel entitled to do that when 72 lives had been lost in the building, including 18 children?
"He felt that what was more important was how he would look to other women on his social media site."
The London Fire Brigade said it apologised "sincerely" for his actions.
A spokesperson said: "In 2018, the brigade took disciplinary action against a member of staff who used an entirely inappropriate photograph on a dating profile.
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"We understand how devastating this would be for the Grenfell community and apologise sincerely for his behaviour."
The review also found there were "dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women" within the LFB, which was put into special measures in December, and minority colleagues were "frequently the target of racist abuse".
Sexual harassment and abuse was passed off as "banter", and some workers reported being told to "fit in or f*** off".
Mr Afzal described speaking to witnesses while investigating as "painful".
Recalling a day when he interviewed nine women about their experiences, he said: "At the end of the day, having run out of tissues given the amount of emotion that was in the room, I then sought counselling because of what I’d been hearing.
"I think, given I’m on an al Qaeda hit list and have had far-right thugs attacking my house, that would give you some sense as to how impactful those stories were on me."
London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe told the panel he "seeks to deny nothing in this report".
He added: "It was humiliating to me to see what I suspected exposed with such terrible extremity and such powerful evidence.
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"But what it gives me is an absolute platform for change.
"I did not have to call Nazir in, there was no political pressure to, there wasn’t a continual leaking of stories, but I felt I had no choice because I could see all the things I love about the fire brigade were being undermined by level of behaviour I could simply not tolerate."
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