Will exposure to fire smoke at the Grenfell Tower fire cause long-term adverse health effects to firefighters of the London Fire Brigade?

ISRCTN	ISRCTN92425651
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN92425651
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT)	Nil known
Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS)	Nil known
Integrated Research Application System (IRAS)	265618
Protocol serial number	IRAS 265618
Sponsor	Imperial College, London
Funder	Colt Foundation

Submission date: 31/05/2019
Registration date: 31/05/2019
Last edited: 21/05/2025

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Injury, Occupational Diseases, Poisoning

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Record updated in last year

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
On the 14th June 2017 a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, causing the deaths of over 70 occupants and becoming the worst residential fire in the United Kingdom since the second world war. The fire spread unusually rapidly and its extinction – which took 60 hours - required the labour of over 1000 firefighters from the London Fire Brigade. Because of the scale and nature of the fire, a sizeable proportion of them were subjected to unusually high exposures to fire smoke, in many cases without standard respiratory protection; we propose to establish a cohort of the Grenfell firefighters to study a range of potential adverse effects from these exposures.

Who can participate?
Firefighters of the London Fire Brigade who attended the Grenfell fire; and a sample of those who were eligible to do so but did not.

What does the study involve?
1. Consent for personal information (name, date of birth, NHS number) to be linked, in the future, to registries of disease.
2. Participation in a baseline survey of heart and lung health.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
1. Identification of lung and heart conditions at an early stage so they can be treated and/or prevented from getting worse.
2. More generally, an understanding of the health risks of firefighting.

Where is the study run from?
Imperial College, London

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
Baseline survey August 2019 to April 2023
Long-term follow-up: 50+ years

Who is funding the study?
The COLT Foundation, a medical charity.

Who is the main contact?
Dr Johanna Feary
j.feary@imperial.ac.uk

Contact information

Dr Johanna Feary
Scientific

National Heart & Lung Institute
Imperial College London
Emmanuel Kaye Building
1b Manresa Road
London
SW3 6LR
United Kingdom

Phone	+44 207 594 7968
Email	j.feary@imperial.ac.uk

Study information

Primary study design	Observational
Study design	Prospective cohort, with baseline cross-sectional survey, single centre
Secondary study design	Cohort study
Study type	Participant information sheet
Scientific title	The Grenfell Firefighters; establishing a cohort
Study acronym	GFS
Study objectives	Will exposure to firesmoke at the Grenfell Tower fire cause long-term adverse health effects to firefighters of the London Fire Brigade?
Ethics approval(s)	Approved 06/12/2020, London-Fulham Research Ethics Committee (Barlow House, 3rd Floor, 4 Minshull Street, Manchester, M1 3DZ, UK; +44 (0)2071048165; Nrescommittee.london-fulham@nhs.net), ref: 19/LO/1847
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied	Respiratory and cardiovascular disease; cancers after exposure to fire smoke
Intervention	No intervention. At the baseline survey we will make a series of non-invasive, physiological measurements of lung (spirometry and impulse oscillometry before and after a bronchodilator) and cardiac function (arterial stiffness) in participating firefighters. We will, at this point, invite them to enrol in a long-term study of their cardio-respiratory health and of cancer incidence; largely though data linkage.
Intervention type	Other
Primary outcome measure(s)	Airway resistance at 5Hz is measured using impulse oscillometry at baseline survey.
Key secondary outcome measure(s)	1. Airway resistance and airflow are measured through impulse oscillometry and spirometry at baseline. 2. Arterial stiffness measured by Vicorder at baseline. 3. Respiratory symptoms are measured using a questionnaire at baseline. 4. The incidence of cardiorespiratory disease is measured using data linkage to national and other registers at any point in the future 5. The incidence of cancers is measured using data linkage to national and other registers at any point in the future.
Completion date	30/04/2023

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Healthy volunteer
Age group	Adult
Sex	All
Target sample size at registration	1100
Total final enrolment	687
Key inclusion criteria	1. Firefighters who directly attended the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 2. A sample from those who were eligible to attend the fire but did not do so because of annual leave etc.
Key exclusion criteria	N/A
Date of first enrolment	27/02/2020
Date of final enrolment	19/04/2023

Locations

Countries of recruitment

United Kingdom
England

Study participating centre

Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

Sydney Street
London
SW3 6NP
United Kingdom

Results and Publications

Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	No
IPD sharing plan summary	Not expected to be made available
IPD sharing plan	The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available: consent has been obtained to share anonymised data with relevant collaborators for other studies relating to firefighter health; however, consent has not been obtained for participant data to be made publicly available.

Study outputs

Output type	Details	Date created	Date added	Peer reviewed?	Patient-facing?
HRA research summary			28/06/2023	No	No
Other publications	Cancer biomarkers	07/05/2025	21/05/2025	Yes	No
Participant information sheet	Participant information sheet	11/11/2025	11/11/2025	No	Yes
Protocol file	version v1	31/05/2019	31/05/2019	No	No

Additional files

ISRCTN92425651_PROTOCOL_v1_31May19.pdf: Uploaded 31/05/2019

Editorial Notes

21/05/2025: Publication reference added.
04/09/2024: The intention to publish date was changed from 31/08/2024 to 01/04/2025.
31/10/2023: The intention to publish date was changed from 31/08/2023 to 31/08/2024.
17/05/2023: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The total final enrolment was changed from 680 to 687.
2. The intention to publish date was changed from 31/12/2021 to 31/08/2023.
3. The recruitment end date has been changed from 31/12/2021 to 19/04/2023.
4. The individual participant data (IPD) sharing statement and summary were added.
06/02/2023: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The overall end date was changed from 31/12/2022 to 30/04/2023.
2. The intention to publish date was added.
3. The plain English summary was updated to reflect these changes.
4. The contact was updated.
5. The total final enrolment was added.
10/01/2022: The overall trial end date has been changed from 28/02/2022 to 31/12/2022.
08/04/2020: The ethics approval was added.
07/04/2020: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The acronym was added.
2. The overall end date was changed from 01/03/2020 to 28/02/2022.
3. The recruitment start date was changed from 01/09/2019 to 27/02/2020.
4. The recruitment end date was changed from 31/07/2020 to 31/12/2021.
09/07/2019: The recruitment start date was changed from 01/08/2019 to 01/09/2019.
31/05/2019: Uploaded protocol (not peer reviewed).
31/05/2019: Trial's existence confirmed by the Colt Foundation.