You Won’t Believe How This Bystander Saved Hundreds of Lives

It was supposed to be a normal day

Jason wasn’t supposed to work that day. In fact, Jason had been dreaming of kicking back on the couch and watching TV all day. But as he sat on the couch, he had a tingling feeling, like a spidey sense. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to be at home. When the news came on, his stomach dropped. He didn’t know it yet, but he was about to spend the next 24 hours fighting for the lives of thousands of people.

Jason Allday

Jason Allday was a humble gas engineer who worked at Cadent Gas. He always did his job well and his bosses always gave him compliments. One Friday morning, Jason was supposed to take a day off, but what he saw on the morning news shattered any peace he had. In a moment, he dropped his drink and rushed toward his front door.

What he saw

As he rushed out the door, all he could see was the Grenfell Tower. It was burning in his mind and burning that very moment. His legs moved with a mind of their own and rushed him ahead. Jason’s hands dug into his pocket and fished his phone out. His fingers swiped quickly, finding someone he had to talk to. His manager answered.

Helping at the scene

Jason knew his job really well. He had worked as a gas engineer for years, and he’d seen many emergencies. So when chaos happened, he would always show up to lead the frantic rescue workers. For the Grenfell Tower, he knew time was ticking by too quickly, and if everyone didn’t act immediately, it would end in disaster. So he coordinated with the London Fire Brigade officers and explained his concerns about the gas fuelling the fire.

At 8:50 AM, most people are grabbing their coffees and strolling into their desk jobs. But at this very hour, Jason stood face-to-face with the Fire Brigade officers, detailing exactly the danger that was facing them. He collected his thoughts and spoke a short, direct plan. With any luck, Jason’s plan would go off right away. But that luck didn’t come…

The moment of truth

The hours ticked by and Jason worried over the fire. It was now 2 PM, a full 5 hours after he gave his plan to the fire officers. Each hour, the danger grew. Each hour, the fire roared stronger, and tensions of the rescue crews were boiling. Finally, they turned to Jason and asked him to go into the building to turn off the gas lines. Jason knew he was the only one who could do it. He was the only one who knew where to go. When the officer asked, he nodded, and got ready. He entered the building and went to the tower basement.

Getting in

Jason was flanked by a team of fire officers to guide him through the burning building. They wanted everyone to come back alive. Hopefully, it would be the case that day. The officers gripped the handles of riot shields, pulling them close so that they could shield their small troop and Jason from flaming pieces of the building from falling on their heads and crushing them. Even though they were protected, Jason saw something even more alarming…

Concerning situation

As Jason entered the building, he noticed something concerning. There was a significant amount of water in the area. Now that normally wouldn’t be alarming, but as Jason stopped dead in his tracks, and looked out over the flames, he saw something that made his stomach drop for the second time that day. As he stood in the water, he noticed that the electricity was still on. And it’s common knowledge that water and electricity do not go well together.

Risky business

Although Jason was safe from falling debris thanks to the protection of the LFB Officers with their riot shields, he was now at risk of being electrocuted. For a brief moment, he could have considered turning back. He could have screamed and led the men out of the building. But that wouldn’t have saved anything. The danger wouldn’t have gone away. He had no choice. He was the only one who could do this. So he led the team deeper into the building…

Warning

Jason was worried that he wouldn’t be able to carry out his mission properly with the extreme conditions they were in. All of their lives were in danger and he was well aware of that. The dangers were getting too extreme to ignore. Officers outside the flames yelled for the team to turn back.

Abandon mission?

Each minute spent inside the furnace of the burning building felt like an hour. Each moment increased the risk of getting trapped and burning to death. They had only been in the building for 5 minutes when the fire officers saw the building was going to collapse. They screamed for Jason and his team to turn back…

Armageddon

The team stopped in their tracks. Their gaze went to the exposed wires and frail debris. Inside the building was like experiencing an apocalypse. And going further was clearly putting at least one foot in the grave. Jason knew that. He had to make a decision because their time was running out.

Trapped

Jason felt his heart pounding every time the ground shook. For a moment, they were like deer caught in the headlights. The live electricity sparked from every corner of the room, indicating that this place was indeed a trap. Jason shook away his fear and signaled his team. They knew they had to turn around. He tried to remember the path they took on the way in, but his mind was getting cloudy from all the fumes he had inhaled.

Adrenaline Rush

Jason fought really hard to move. It was the adrenaline rush that kept him going. He felt the scorching sensation pierce through his skin, but his desperation to get out was stronge, he pushed to the exit.

New Strategy

The moment they stepped out of the building, Jason didn’t take a chance to rest. For him, the danger wasn’t over. He had to complete the mission. He had another strategy in mind. Jason grabbed his co-workers from Cadent Gas and mapped out his new plan.

External Plan

His team immediately understood what he wanted to do. Instead of going inside the building for its gas valves, Jason came up with the second-best option— isolating the gas by shutting off the main pipes within the vicinity. In awe of Jason’s quick critical thinking, his co-engineers and the firefighters nodded in unison. Although it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded.

Non-stop calling

Jason briefed the repair manager and contacted the LFB (London Fire Brigade). He had to make hundreds of phone calls since the operation includes extraction of public roads. Jason noticed from his logs that he already made and received more than 200 calls. He quickly chugged a bottle of water and continued dialing his phone. He knew that there would be harder tasks ahead.

Tracking Down

It’s a good thing that Jason was already familiar with the area. He had the idea where the main pipes were located. With his co-engineers, they identified the possible locations and assessed that they would target three main pipes from different roads. But when they started moving to the first site, Jason let out an exasperated sigh as there was another problem that greeted them.

Gathering Help

The road was congested with parked cars, fire trucks, and bystanders. Jason figured that the two more roads would have the same situations. He tapped his foot trying to contemplate any possible solution. He looked around and spotted police officers. He asked for their help along with the LFB’s incident controllers. Then he called some of the fire officers for additional assistance. Right after that, Jason proceeded the operation with his full guidance and made another bold move…

A System

Jason deployed the teams on different sites. He knew how each team would work in extremely difficult situations but he promised to do his best to supervise them. He made sure that they were well-coordinated by arranging access to the machines and constantly sharing information. Jason created a system. And it was all going well until an unexpected news came from the last site.

The Last Pipe

The main gas pipe was deeper than they expected and the equipment they had was not built to dig further. Jason creased his eyebrows. He thought hard about whether it was safe for the engineers and the ground to push the digging. He laid out all the possible causes and effects, then he came up with a sole answer…

Triumph

Jason believed that they would still make it. He called it “Non-Routine Operation” because this was a situation they have never faced before. It was beyond their working procedures, but Jason carried out the mission.  At 11:40 PM they watched the flames inside the building burn out. Jason clenched his hands above his head— he knew they succeeded in shutting off the last gas. People started to crowd him and he received hugs and gratitude. He couldn’t help but smile in triumph. However, the reality of casualties started to seep in. 

The Unsung Hero

There was a moment of silence as they counted the death toll. His heart dropped when they announced that 72 lives were taken from the tragedy. However, if Jason didn’t step in, there could’ve been more people in danger. Evidently, he did an incredible act in leading and assessing the situation. Jason then decided to stay on the site just in case of imminent danger. He never felt a single drop of exhaustion throughout the 24 hours of nonstop working. He just wanted to help as much as he could, yet he didn’t consider himself as the hero. Jason was later interviewed by the media where he told them that he only wished for the world to focus on the lives affected by the tragedy instead of him.