Firefighter broke down when he found dead baby in flats fire

A firefighter broke down and had to be carried from a blazing tower block after he discovered the body of a 20-day-old baby during a search for survivors, an inquest heard.

Christopher Rose, crew manager of a specialist search and rescue team with extended duration breathing apparatus, spent seven months off work with post-traumatic stress after finding Michelle Udoaka dead as he reached behind a bathroom door and touched her body.

He had been searching the 11th floor of Lakanal House with colleagues two hours after firefighters received 999 calls alerting them to a fire in the Southwark council property in Camberwell on July 3, 2009.

He told an inquest into the deaths of six residents that a colleague had found the “lifeless” body of mother-of-two Dayana Francisquini behind the bathroom door as they searched flat 81 and helped him move her body.

Asked by counsel to the inquest James Maxwell-Scott what he did next, Mr Rose, from Clerkenwell fire station, said: “We always do a secondary sweep. I reached round the door and unfortunately located a very small baby.

“I assisted with handing that baby over to one of my crew to be taken out. It became apparent we had other casualties in that bathroom as well.”

Mr Rose, who was overcome as he gave evidence, said the discovery of the child - later identified as Michelle Udoaka - “really shocked me”.

“It was, you know, really emotional finding casualties like that, and very tragic,” he said. “I also became very aware that my own decision-making was getting a little bit flawed and I was getting exceedingly hot.

“This was becoming increasingly difficult for myself. It transpired I had to leave that fire floor, suffering some severe effects of stress and exhaustion.”

Mr Rose said he was sure he told other firefighters there were more bodies in the flat. Three-year-old Felipe Francisquini was found during the same search at 6.20pm but it was not until 8.54pm that firefighters discovered Michelle’s mother Helen Udoaka and Felipe’s sister, Thais, six, in the same flat. Catherine Hickman was found at the same time in neighbouring flat 79.