FIREFIGHTERS battling the Camberwell tower block blaze were forced to pull out by health and safety rules - leaving six victims to die, it has been claimed.
Heroic rescue crews were on the 11th floor and closing in on a group of trapped residents when the order came to withdraw amid fears of an explosion.
By the time it was deemed safe to go back in, it was too late to save two women and three children who had sought refuge in a bathroom.
Trainee teacher Rasheed Nuhu, 46, who earlier fled the bathroom with his family, has criticised the fire service for taking 90 minutes to reach his doomed neighbours.
And last night an experienced firefighter slammed the health and safety ruling.
The source said: "I wasn't on this job, but there is growing frustration among my colleagues over health and safety laws.
"A large gas pipe had fractured inside the block, and because of this a decision was made that it was too dangerous for them to be in there.
"Under health and safety rules, it may have been the correct decision. But the gas was burning off, so relatively speaking not that dangerous.
"The threat comes when there is a build-up of gas waiting to be ignited.
"The guys did not want to quit as they suspected there were still people in there and they were close to them, but they had to obey orders."
The source, a firefighter for 15 years, added: "Firemen are paid to take risks on behalf of the public, but senior officers are now understandably petrified of having one of their men injured or killed.
"Ironically, health and safety could be to blame for the deaths of those people."
Victims Dayana Francisquini, 26, her daughter Thais, six, and son Felipe, three, were in the bathroom with Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle.
Fashion designer Catherine Hickman, 31, was in the flat next door at the 14-storey Lakanal House in Camberwell, South London, last Friday.
Fire chiefs were criticised at a meeting with survivors.
Many claimed they only escaped by IGNORING instructions to stay in their homes.
Dayana's husband Rafael Cervi, 31, attacked the fire brigade's "unwillingness" to rescue his family, saying: "They had masks and oxygen and there were no flames in my flat, why couldn't they go in?"
London Fire Brigade said: "A full investigation is underway. Firefighters were at the scene in minutes and rescued 40 people."
Heroic rescue crews were on the 11th floor and closing in on a group of trapped residents when the order came to withdraw amid fears of an explosion.
By the time it was deemed safe to go back in, it was too late to save two women and three children who had sought refuge in a bathroom.
Trainee teacher Rasheed Nuhu, 46, who earlier fled the bathroom with his family, has criticised the fire service for taking 90 minutes to reach his doomed neighbours.
And last night an experienced firefighter slammed the health and safety ruling.
The source said: "I wasn't on this job, but there is growing frustration among my colleagues over health and safety laws.
"A large gas pipe had fractured inside the block, and because of this a decision was made that it was too dangerous for them to be in there.
"Under health and safety rules, it may have been the correct decision. But the gas was burning off, so relatively speaking not that dangerous.
"The threat comes when there is a build-up of gas waiting to be ignited.
"The guys did not want to quit as they suspected there were still people in there and they were close to them, but they had to obey orders."
The source, a firefighter for 15 years, added: "Firemen are paid to take risks on behalf of the public, but senior officers are now understandably petrified of having one of their men injured or killed.
"Ironically, health and safety could be to blame for the deaths of those people."
Victims Dayana Francisquini, 26, her daughter Thais, six, and son Felipe, three, were in the bathroom with Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle.
Fashion designer Catherine Hickman, 31, was in the flat next door at the 14-storey Lakanal House in Camberwell, South London, last Friday.
Fire chiefs were criticised at a meeting with survivors.
Many claimed they only escaped by IGNORING instructions to stay in their homes.
Dayana's husband Rafael Cervi, 31, attacked the fire brigade's "unwillingness" to rescue his family, saying: "They had masks and oxygen and there were no flames in my flat, why couldn't they go in?"
London Fire Brigade said: "A full investigation is underway. Firefighters were at the scene in minutes and rescued 40 people."
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