Firefighter took Tinder selfie in front of smouldering Grenfell Tower

Firefighter took selfie in front of smouldering Grenfell Tower after 72 people had lost their lives in the fire and used it for his Tinder profile

• Male London Fire Brigade firefighter took selfie outside Grenfell Tower after fire
• Ex-chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal said it was used on Tinder at London Assembly
• Comes after his report said the LFB was ‘institutionally misogynist and racist’

A male firefighter took a selfie in front of the smouldering Grenfell Tower for his Tinder profile in the ‘immediate aftermath’ of the tragic fire which killed 72 people. 

The incident was revealed by former Chief Crown Prosecutor Nazir Afzal whose review into the London Fire Brigade (LFB) found the organisation was ‘institutionally misogynist and racist’.

The Grenfell Tower fire Kensington, west London trapped hundreds and took 72 people’s lives including 18 children after an electrical fault with a fridge-freezer sparked a catastrophic fire on June 14, 2017.

Mr Afzal shared the shocking allegation during a London Assembly meeting into the LFB following his damning review saying: ‘In the immediate aftermath of Grenfell, whilst 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’.

A male took a picture in front of the smouldering Grenfell Tower (pictured) for his Tinder profile after 72 people died as a result of the blaze at the west London block, after an electrical fault with a fridge-freezer sparked a catastrophic fire on June 14, 2017

A review into the London Fire Brigade by former Chief Crown Prosecutor Nazir Azfal (pictured) found the organisation was ‘institutionally misogynist and racist’

Mr Afzal then asked the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee: ‘How did he feel entitled to do that?

‘Why did he feel entitled to do that when 72 lives had been lost in the building, including 18 children?

‘And he felt that what was more important was how he would look to women on his social media site.’

READ MORE: I will SACK any racist and sexist firefighters, London Fire Brigade chief declares after bombshell report laid bare scale of bullying, racism and misogyny in the service

 

Mr Afzal later added on Twitter the firefighter used the photo ‘because of a sense of entitlement, a lack of shame and empathy’ and ‘because misogyny and racism is institutionalised’ within the LFB.

The former chief prosecutor also referenced an Instagram page called ‘Hoses and Helmets’, a ‘banter’ community for the fire brigade which he says still posts  ‘sexist, misogynistic, hate-filled behaviour’.

While writing his report he interviewed nine women in succession about their experiences ‘one after another’ in the LFB. He told the committee: ‘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.’

Mr Afzal’s report found ‘dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women’, while colleagues from minority backgrounds are ‘frequently the target of racist abuse’.

He said people were sharing ‘real-life’ and ‘current’ experiences, saying that they ‘didn’t feel safe in large parts of the fire service’. 

‘People didn’t feel they were able to progress, people didn’t feel they were able to be properly supported, they felt that if they had a complaint or grievance it wouldn’t be properly listened to,’ Mr Afzal said.

‘There are something like 450 female staff in the London Fire Brigade, more than 150 engaged with us and, with hardly any exceptions, women told us that they had been suffering sexual abuse, sexual harassment, what was described to them as banter – which wasn’t – that they felt scared, that they felt that they weren’t being treated equally.

Mr Afzal said that women in the fire service were told: ‘FIFI’ – ‘Fit in or f*** off’.

‘In the immediate aftermath of Grenfell (pictured), whilst 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,’ Mr Afzal told the London Assembly Committee

Mr Afzal (pictured) told the London Assembly committee that women in the fire service were told: ‘FIFI’ – ‘Fit in or f*** off’.

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: ‘In 2018, the brigade took disciplinary action against a member of staff who used an entirely inappropriate photograph on a dating profile.

‘We understand how devastating this would be for the Grenfell community and apologise sincerely for his behaviour.’

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe (pictured) told the panel that he ‘seeks to deny nothing in this report’ which was devastating for the LFB

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe told the panel that 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. 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.’

He insisted that the LFB can and will change in the wake of the damning report.

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