Speaking about the woman pleading with him to get the fire brigade to rescue her, he added: "I was going, 'They'll come and get you, they'll come and get you'. The services didn't even get to the 14th floor. She didn't get out. I can tell you now she didn't get out."
Clarke said he would never forget a fireman who had been fighting the blaze for eight hours and "had never seen a look like that in a man's eyes in my life".
He added: "He was gone. He was absolutely gone."
It comes after police said at least 58 people died, or are missing, presumed dead, after fire ravaged the tower block in the early hours of Wednesday.
Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police warned that the death toll could rise further as he formally identified the first victim as 23-year-old Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali.
At 58 casualties, it would make the Grenfell Tower blaze the deadliest in the capital since the Second World War.
More than 250 firefighters tackled the blaze in north Kensington as London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said the scene looked like a "disaster movie".
Speaking to the Observer, she said crews did not follow normal practice, adding: "Had we just followed standard fire brigade procedures, we would not have been able to commit firefighters in and conduct the rescues we did."
Sixteen bodies have been taken to the mortuary after flames tore through the 1970s tower block - while 14 others have been recovered from the building.
Police have appealed to anyone who may have escaped from the building, but has not yet come forward, to make themselves known.
When asked about the search, Cundy replied that the officers had gone "all the way to the top" of the tower, and explained that the first phase was a visual search.
People look at flowers and tributes outside Notting Hill Methodist Church, close to Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP
Urban Search and Rescue officers from London Fire Brigade inside the Grenfell Tower in west London. Photo / AP
Cundy said the police investigation into the blaze would look at the building and its refurbishment in 2016 and vowed to prosecute people if there was evidence.
The police are appealing to anyone with pictures or videos of the blaze to hand them in, as they may help establish not only where and how the fire started, but also how it spread.
Victims met the Prime Minister at Number 10 on Saturday evening and man representing the group said they had spoken about their "demands and what we expect".
May said she had fixed a deadline of three weeks for everybody affected to be rehoused locally.
She added: "I have ordered that more staff be deployed across the area, wearing high visibility clothing, so they can easily be found, dispense advice and ensure the right support is provided."
Family liaison officers are working with 52 families, and as soon as victims are identified, their loved ones will be told.
Anger flared in the Kensington community over the weekend - with many protests taking place across the capital - as some accused the authorities of withholding information and responding inadequately.
Cundy said: "The investigation will be exhaustive. My intention is that it will help provide answers.
"If, as we investigate, we identify issues that are a risk to public safety, we will not be waiting until the end of the investigation before we provide that information to the appropriate authorities.
"If there are any safety issues that we and experts that we will be using identify, we will share that immediately."
The government has promised a full public inquiry, but that has done little to ease a sense of frustration at the lack of information about how the fire moved so quickly to engulf the building.
Engineering experts and fire safety specialists believe the building's exterior cladding may have quickly fueled the blaze, overwhelming fire protection devices. British officials have ordered a review of other buildings that have had similar renovations.
