A firefighter has recalled how he saved his own life and that of a colleague by diving out of the way of a charred window frame which plunged from Grenfell Tower .

Watch manager Alan Moore said windows were "popping constantly", causing shattered glass to rain down from the burning high-rise block, a shard of which burnt his neck.

One of his roles on June 14 last year was safety officer, guiding crews and residents in and out of the tower safely.

Intermittent black smoke made it difficult to see falling debris, while police officers lent their riot shields to help protect people from being hit.

Flames engulfed the 27-storey building

Mr Moore recalled a near-miss as he attempted to help a senior officer, either a borough commander or deputy assistant commissioner (DAC), reach the main entrance of the tower a few hours into the fire.

In a written statement to the public inquiry, he said: "I held the DAC in a safe position under the concrete mezzanine walkway and looked out to make sure it was clear for him to cross and that no falling debris was going to hit him. I said to him 'go'.

"As he went, all of a sudden a big object came flying through the sky - I would describe it as a big window frame, it was quite charred.

"I immediately pushed the DAC out of the way of the flying object. We both fell on to our front, landing in the rubble, and then rolled onto our sides and back to the safe area under the mezzanine.

"I am certain that if I did not see this object falling and it hit us, we would have both been killed.

"The DAC said to me 'We'll try again, shall we?'. We then went out, I looked and shouted 'go' and he went."

Mr Moore, who has more than 30 years' experience with the London Fire Brigade, later regrouped with his crew a short distance from the tower.

He said: "It was whilst I was sat down on this wall that the DAC who I pushed over to avoid getting struck by a window frame came up to me. He told me that I saved his life, that he will remember it and never forget it."

Some 72 people died in the fire in west London last June.

The first phase of the public inquiry, at Holborn Bars in central London, is hearing evidence from firefighters.