David Tighe will never forget the “chaos” and the huge clouds of smoke following Britain’s deadliest blaze in a residential building since World War Two.
Volunteering with the Red Cross in London, Mr Tighe, (55) was part of the huge emergency response that was left picking up the pieces after the huge inferno that destroyed London’s Grenfell Tower.
The fire ripped through the 23-storey social housing block early on June 14, 2017, killing 72 people.
The UK government has confirmed the tower will be demolished before the eight-year anniversary.
The Fire and Emergency Support Service in England, which is provided by the Red Cross, deals with the aftermath for the victims of a fire after the fire brigade puts out a fire.
“The Red Cross got a call saying we need as many volunteers in London as possible. I hopped on a train first thing the next morning down to London,” he said.
“It was a huge disaster. I never experienced anything like this before and I hope I never have to experience it again. I am glad I did it.”
His parents lived in Portobello Road, West London, which was only a few streets away from Grenfell Tower.
“On a human level, I felt I needed to go and it was also coming back to a place where I was originally from. The Red Cross set up a Rest Centre where all the victims came in,” he said.
“It was a very hot day. I was wearing a Red Cross uniform and people were giving me money on the street to donate, which I couldn’t receive. The whole community was in shock.
“When I got to the centre, there was chaos. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. People were hungry because they were fasting in the middle of Ramadan. There were a lot of Muslims on the scene. People were very hot, hungry and stressed.
“When I walked around the corner and saw it, you could smell the smoke, which was coming from miles around the place.
“You could feel the heat coming from it. I remember seeing lots of people very upset.
“A few men came up to me who were searching for their brother who they were on the phone to inside the building. They lost contact and had been to every hospital in London but didn’t know what was going on.
“They came to the front door and asked me ‘do you know where my brother is’. I said: ‘I don’t know where your brother is’. They replied no one is talking or listening to us.
“I brought them into a room and listened to what they had to say about their brother for 20 minutes. I said: ‘I can’t give you the answers you are looking for’. They gave me a hug and said ‘you can’t give us the answers, but at least you listened.
“They said you are the first person who stopped and listened to what we had to say. That taught me a huge lesson about stopping for ten minutes to talk to a neighbour.”
Providing emotional support and setting up a structure in the Rest Centre were some of his main tasks.
Areas had to be set up for women who were breast-feeding babies. Beds were laid out in the sports hall. A mini shopping centre was set up in one corner with food, provisions and essentials like nappies.
People turned up at the door of the centre with food and nappies.
His 15-hour stint didn’t finish until midnight as he stayed on until he had to leave to get the last train home.
A few days after the tragic fire, Queen Elizabeth visited the Rest Centre first before going on to the site of the fire.
Every volunteer who responded to the Grenfell disaster was awarded the highest Red Cross accolade the Dunant Award.
Mr Tighe didn’t speak about what happened in Grenfell for about two years.
“I didn’t talk about it afterwards. I just went to try and help,” he said.
“I felt a bit awkward getting the award because I felt I was giving myself a pat on the back for getting this award. It is a strange one.
“When I was working in one of the places someone encouraged me to talk about it during this internal interview about mental health so I did.”
Born in London, Mr Tighe moved to Ballina, Killaloe in 2003 where he has resided since then.
Working in Limerick running Limerick Live 95FM as Chief Executive Officer from 2003 to 2009, he felt Ballina was an ideal commutable distance at the time even before the construction of the motorway.
“My two daughters were little at the time and I felt Ballina was a beautiful spot to grow up in. My son was born in 2003 so he is a proper Tipperary man,” said Mr Tigue.
“People say your birthplace is an accident but what is inside of you is by the grace of God. Ireland has always been a part of me for as long as I can remember.”
There is a great Tipperary versus Clare rivalry in the Tighe household.
His mother, Kathleen Heaney is from Kilkee, who married his father, Michael Tighe who was from Multifarnham in Westmeath.
Her sister is Considine so the former Ennis County Councillor the late Peter Considine was his uncle. Another late uncle, Des Haugh, who married one of his mother’s sisters, had a big factory in Smithstown.
Every year he used to return to Kilkee to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday on Christmas Day.
Even when he was living in London, his Clare links were always kept to the forefront. With cousins in Ennis, texts are exchanged as part of the friendly slagging when Clare are playing Tipperary in the Munster SHC championship.
Growing up in London, Mr Tighe was aware of The Clare Champion from a young age as his grandmother in Kilkee put it in a package and sent it to his mother.
“The Clare Champion might have been three weeks old but it was like a bit of him. It is an institution, isn’t it?” he said.
“It is still viable even though it is different in 2025 compared to 1995. Local news and information still matter to people.
“The local newspaper provides a bit more in-depth coverage than the radio.”
After his stint in 95FM, he helped set up Radio Nova in Dublin before setting up his own consultancy business, travelling war zones throughout the world providing media development and advice to build democracies in countries for the United States government, the European Union and several different international media organisations.
He undertook this work in Yemen, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Algeria from 2011 to 2014.
In 2014, he started a six-year stint as a regional managing director for Global, one of the United Kingdom’s biggest radio companies, flying to and from Shannon Airport, which was tough going from a family perspective.
In late 2019, an opportunity came up in Belfast to run the radio operations for Bower Media, who recently bought Today FM.
He joined the new company in March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was commuting from Tipperary to Belfast where I had a flat. It was crazy stuff because I was getting stopped all the time while I was on the road. When I was stopped they thought no one could make that up. I loved working up in Northern Ireland. I always tried to use media to make things a bit better because newspapers and radio get a bit of a rap about being negative.
“In Belfast, I was working on peace and reconciliation projects. I was on first name terms with politicians on both sides of the political divide. I got huge satisfaction from trying to help them put positive messages out about what was going on.
“I was a trustee of a charity that was part of the radio station – Cash for Kids, which was designed to ensure that every Christmas a child in Northern Ireland got a Christmas present.
“Between 25,000 and 26,000 Christmas presents were being distributed to kids via social services. During the year, we organised fundraising activities, people would apply for grants to our board of trustees,” he said.
In December 2023, he was made redundant as part of the company’s restructuring and cost-cutting.
In early 2024, he made a successful application to become the new CEO of Critical, which has its main office in Croom.
He is enjoying being able to come home after commuting long distances and travelling around the world for more than 13 years.
In 2017, Irish Community Rapid Response was established and about a year later started a charity helicopter service operating out of Rathcoole in North Cork.
This helicopter was crewed by paramedics and continued operating until mid 2023 when it was no longer sustainable and was then taken over and funded by the Government.
This prompted the charity to refocus on providing 11 on-call volunteer doctors who are pre-hospital specialists who are provided with a fully funded equipped vehicle so they can effectively bring Emergency Department treatment to patients.
Doctors and community first responders work closely with the National Ambulance Service and are tasked to care for the sickest and most seriously injured patients.
Last year, the Emergency Medical Response charity responded to 1,308 taskings up from 900 in 2023. Calls included chest pain, stroke, cardiac and respiratory arrest, falls and road traffic collisions.
It is now operational in 25 counties, with a new critical first responder group set up in Killaloe and Ballina.
Mr Tighe is delighted their network of volunteer responders is growing.
“We are trying to empower communities to save lives by training people, providing equipment and making the link with the National Ambulance Service. If someone is having a medical problem and see a local friendly face, they will instantly make a connection that will make them more comfortable. The sense of community is very strong in Ireland,” he said.
“Critical volunteers always say that there is an added sense of pride in knowing that they made a difference in the lives of people in their local community by coming to their assistance when needed.”
“Critical fills in the magic minutes. People can deteriorate after a stroke or cardiac arrest when minutes can matter to their outcome. The ambulance will still arrive but the early intervention is critical to a much better outcome for the patient.
“We have a great relationship with the National Ambulance Service who task community first responder groups if there is one in an area when there is a 999 call. Volunteers respond to a text message to let the Control Centre they are on their way.
“The Control Centre will contact the casualty and inform them there is a community responder on the way who will be there in ten minutes. The charity isn’t there to replace the NAS.”
The charity has doctors, community first responder groups and off-duty responders who are employees of the National Ambulance Service such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics and advanced paramedics.
It provides 100 life support kits with key equipment such as a defibrillator, which can be used by any of its members. There are plans to provide 150 life support kits, which cost €1,500 this year.
There are active ten community first responder groups and there are plans to double this in 2025 and add another extra doctor. It costs more than €150,00 to get an emergency car for a doctor with all the necessary specialist equipment.
It is hoped a new community first responder group will be established in Ennis this year.
Stressing fundraising is very difficult, Mr Tighe appealed for corporate donations and for Dáil deputies to help him seek new avenues for funding.
Before the new Killaloe Ballina CFR went live, Mr Tighe acted as a community first responder for the area once he was tasked by the NAS.
Having been a member of Killaloe Coast Guard previously for two different periods sandwiches in between work abroad, Mr Tighe got to know Damien
Madden who is now playing a pivotal role in co-ordinating the new Killaloe Ballina CFR.
“The great thing about the Killaloe Ballina community is everyone looks after one another. The bridge doesn’t get in the way of helping each other.
“Critical appreciates the donation from the Killaloe Christmas swim,” he said.
To continue to provide its life-saving services, the charity depends on donations from the public. Donations can be made on criticalcharity.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.