Over a year on from that terrible night, the Grenfell Tower fire public inquiry is under way. At times it is impossible, listening to the evidence, not to be moved by the bravery of both the public and the emergency services.

At other times it is almost too painful to take in. Hundreds of members of my union, the Fire Brigades Union, have been interviewed by the police as part of the investigation, and there are many who will have their statement read out or will attend to give evidence. This was scheduled to last six weeks until 2 August, but more firefighters have now been called, and it will now continue into the autumn. We have provided union representation at each of those interviews: a major challenge to us.

We have already heard some remarkable evidence. We have heard that firefighters faced an impossible situation. They ran out of equipment. They ran out of breathing apparatus. They had to ignore normal safety rules, putting their own safety – their own lives – at risk.

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We have heard of a firefighter who hung out of a fourth floor window in an attempt to extinguish the fire, with his colleague holding his legs to stop him falling. We have heard of a crew whose air was running out, whose safety warning whistles were sounding and who concluded they would not get out of the building.

Anyone who listens to the evidence, at least anyone who has a heart, will be deeply moved. It is heartbreaking to see firefighters breaking down in tears as they recount their experiences on that night of terror.

As events unfold, the public want the truth, but many – like us – will also expect that the years of deregulation, risk-taking and cost-cutting are to come to an end.

We want to see a complete and total ban of flammable cladding. It is shocking that more than a year after the Grenfell fire, this cladding material is still in use. We want to see an end to the privatisation of the fire safety inspection regime that has driven down standards. It has created a system where private, uncertified inspectors rubber-stamp building works, as they have to win the repeat business of building owners. This lax approach to fire safety is unacceptable.

That terrible night would have been so much worse if it wasn’t for the firefighters and the emergency workers. What many may not know is that had this disaster happened outside London, which is relatively well-resourced, it could have been much worse. We demand consistent national standards of fire and rescue resources across the UK, so that – if this nightmare is ever repeated outside London – we would have a chance of saving as many lives as possible.

A point that tends to be forgotten in the reporting around Grenfell is that every aspect of fire safety in the tower – the safety measures designed and built into the fabric of the block in 1974 – all spectacularly failed. The fire lifts did not work. The fire doors were not of the correct standard. The smoke extraction did not work. The windows failed. The water supply was inadequate.

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And of course, above all, the building was wrapped in flammable cladding. That was the main factor that caused the fire to spread at such a rapid rate. It is something my union has been warning about since 1999.

So, before the fire – before any firefighter arrived on 14 June 2017, before any 999 call was made, before all these things – Grenfell Tower was a potential death trap.

And the key question is how that was allowed to happen in 21st century Britain?

What is shocking and sickening is that a year after the fire, people are still not re-housed. A year on nobody has been arrested, though three people have been interviewed under caution. A year on we have hundreds of buildings with the same cladding. A year on nothing has really been done.

Imagine if this had been a terror attack. Any such attack – even with far fewer deaths – would have resulted in much greater action. Indeed, Theresa May would probably have invaded a country by now.

But since this is about 72 people who died in their homes, we just see inaction and continued complacency. We stand side by side with the north Kensington community and with the bereaved, the survivors and other residents affected by the fire. The issue of Grenfell must become a central political issue that we do not allow to be brushed under the carpet.

• Matt Wrack is general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union