Grenfell Tower survivor warns another blaze is 'on the cards' as she blasts policy failure

It comes after the Government announced the tower will be "carefully" demolished in a process likely to take two years, and that Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had, "prioritised engagement with the community since her appointment."

The block set alight in the early hours of June 14, 2017, leading to the deaths of 72 people. O'Connor was in the building at the time and spoke to GB News about what it was like being woken by the sirens.

The 36-year-old told GB News: "I actually wanted to go to bed at 11 that evening, on the evening of the 13th, which, if I had got my way, then we probably would have been stuck in the in the tower. But my partner actually wanted to go to bed around 12 o'clock, so we did.

"When the first two fire engines turned up, we looked out the window to see where they were coming, turned down our road, and then we simply went back to laying down.

"As we laid back down, we could hear like more of them turning up. So the third and fourth one turned up. It was actually the fourth fire engine that got my attention a little more, because he'd actually missed the road, before he then slammed on his brakes and reversed quite fast.

"So my thoughts were 'What can he see that I can't to make him react like that?'"

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Upon opening the door to their flat, O'Connor said that there was "light wispy smoke" coming through the hallway and "thick black smoke" coming through the bin chute.

When they exited the building, she said: "It looked like a very busy fire ground. And I used to be obsessed with watching London's Burning, so I was actually excited on my way down. I wouldn't know how to explain why, I was so excited. But then as soon as I got to the ground floor, I knew that this was more, a lot more serious than I had expected.

"One of the firefighters apparently told my partner to go back upstairs, but obviously he didn't listen to that, thankfully. Then about a minute later, we got asked to move, to move back, because the fire was like exploding outwards towards the trees, and they were to cordon it off."

"When the fire reached our floor, I went into shock. My partner dragged me away to my mum's place, and I remember getting very angry at the police helicopter, thinking they were following us, but they weren't."

Now, O'Connor has spoken about how the tower needs to remain standing and wants the demolition plans to be halted, setting up a petition.

She told GB News: "The petition came about because we're just tired of not being listened to. The consultation was never put over correctly. In our view, the Government has only spoken to one, seems to be only one particular group, that has agreed that the tower needs to come down.

"But what we want from the closing of the tower demolition is that we want the criminal proceedings to go ahead while the tower is still standing, so it's not out of sight and out of mind for those who have caused this.

"Another deadly Grenfell is on the cards if this Government doesn't push for the removal of this the cladding, instead of focusing on the destruction of the tower, they need to focus on removing every single cladding that is known to be flammable."

Downing Street indicated there were no plans to change course on the decision in the wake of the outcry, adding that it is a "deeply personal matter" for the community.

A Government spokesman said: "The priority for the deputy prime minister is to meet with and write to the bereaved, survivors and the immediate community to let them know her decision on the future of the Grenfell Tower.

"The Deputy Prime Minister has considered independent expert advice. Engineering advice says that the Tower is significantly damaged. It remains stable because of the measures put in place to protect it, but even with installation of additional props, the condition of the building will continue to worsen over time.

"Engineers also advise it is not practicable to retain many of the floors of the building in place as part of a memorial that must last in perpetuity.

"Taking the engineering advice into account, the Deputy Prime Minister concluded that it would not be fair to keep some floors of the building that are significant to some families whilst not being able to do so for others and knowing that, for some, this would be deeply upsetting."