:00:13. > :00:19.A huge fire has involved a tower block in London. At least 12 people
:00:20. > :00:25.have been killed. 600 people lived there. The fire broke out just
:00:26. > :00:34.before 1am. Fire crews were on the scene within six minutes.
:00:35. > :00:39.Eyewitnesses say the flames engulfed the 24 story building within 30
:00:40. > :00:47.minutes, with people desperately trying to escape. The fire was still
:00:48. > :00:50.raging as dawn broke. The London Fire Brigade desperately struggled
:00:51. > :00:56.to reach after flaws, but were repelled by the heat and falling day
:00:57. > :01:02.brief. This is a completely unprecedented fire. In my 29 years
:01:03. > :01:07.in the London Fire Brigade, I have never seen a fire of this nature,
:01:08. > :01:12.and I have seen many high-rise fires. Around 30 people are being
:01:13. > :01:18.treated in six London hospitals. In other news, the government has
:01:19. > :01:24.opened fire on Republican members of Congress during a baseball game in
:01:25. > :01:31.Virginia. The attacker was killed by the police. We are united in our
:01:32. > :01:51.shock and anguish. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
:01:52. > :01:58.A huge fire is still burning in West London after it engulfed
:01:59. > :02:01.a 24 storey residential tower block just before one o'clock
:02:02. > :02:05.12 people are known to have died, but that figure is expected to rise.
:02:06. > :02:08.Firefighters managed to get a lot of people out -
:02:09. > :02:10.and almost all the building has now been searched.
:02:11. > :02:12.More than seventy people are being treated in six
:02:13. > :02:13.different hospitals; twenty are critically ill.
:02:14. > :02:15.This report from Richard Lister contains distressing
:02:16. > :02:43.A terrifying inferno. Residents waking up to flames and panic. I
:02:44. > :02:48.could smell panic. It's getting bigger and bigger. There was smoke
:02:49. > :02:54.literally everywhere. There was cladding falling off the block.
:02:55. > :02:57.People were screaming. Seeing people at their windows waving, just
:02:58. > :03:04.desperate for someone to come and rescue them out of their flats. Just
:03:05. > :03:07.awful. Neighbours came, desperate to help, but with flaming debris
:03:08. > :03:23.falling from the tower block, their lives were at risk too. We need to
:03:24. > :03:29.ring 999. On the ground, police cleared a wide chord in and close
:03:30. > :03:34.the nearby a 40. 200 firefighters were brought in and led many
:03:35. > :03:39.residents to safety. More than 60 were taken to hospital, and as dawn
:03:40. > :03:43.broke, it was clear that there was still people trapped in the
:03:44. > :03:50.building. What floor are you an? Seven? As the tower block burnt,
:03:51. > :03:57.residents told of the decisions that saved their lives. There was thick
:03:58. > :04:02.smoke along the whole landing, so I shut the door, and thought maybe it
:04:03. > :04:11.might be safer to stay inside. And then I phoned my neighbour, and she
:04:12. > :04:15.said to get out. He made a rope out of his blankets. Others recalled the
:04:16. > :04:20.horror of what they had seen overnight. People screaming, people
:04:21. > :04:26.jumping out on fire, chucking ropes down that they had made out of bed
:04:27. > :04:29.sheets to try and climb out. An absolute and complete nightmare.
:04:30. > :04:35.There were people throwing their kids out. Save my children, save my
:04:36. > :04:40.children. The fire brigade and ambulance and police couldn't do
:04:41. > :04:45.anything. They couldn't get in. They said, stay where you are, we will
:04:46. > :04:50.come and get you. But things escalated. People are just in shock.
:04:51. > :04:55.Apparently there's a lot of kids from the school in the building that
:04:56. > :05:03.are missing. A lot of young kids and old people lived in the block. It
:05:04. > :05:08.went right up. He is shooting the spot. It was a dangerous night for
:05:09. > :05:12.firefighters as they battled to get the blaze under control and avoid
:05:13. > :05:15.falling debris. Crews with building apparatus have been searching the
:05:16. > :05:20.gutted building, but it took hours for them to get to the upper floors,
:05:21. > :05:25.and the grim work will take some time yet. I am very sad to confirm
:05:26. > :05:31.that there have been a number of fatalities. I cannot confirm the
:05:32. > :05:36.number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building, and
:05:37. > :05:41.it would be wrong for me to speculate further. Equally, the
:05:42. > :05:44.cause of the fire is not known. The incident that occurred overnight is
:05:45. > :05:49.truly shocking. It will take a period of time before we truly
:05:50. > :05:53.understand what has occurred and the investigation will be complex. As
:05:54. > :05:59.you would expect, very, very thorough. The tower block is now a
:06:00. > :06:04.smoking ruin. It should have been one of the safest in the borough,
:06:05. > :06:10.with a multi-million refurbishment completed last year. 125 families
:06:11. > :06:15.are now homeless and are the priority for the local authority to
:06:16. > :06:21.deal with. We need to ensure we can provide shelter for those who have
:06:22. > :06:24.had to flee their homes. There are genuine and reasonable questions
:06:25. > :06:28.that residents across the country have who live in tower blocks, and
:06:29. > :06:33.we need to make sure they are answered. This is a community in
:06:34. > :06:41.shock. The immediate aftermath is horrific but there will be a
:06:42. > :06:45.long-term impact as well. This nurse helped survivors overnight. I've
:06:46. > :06:50.seen some things, but I can't even describe today. There's mothers who
:06:51. > :06:53.have lost their children. There are firefighters who have come out
:06:54. > :06:58.injured that we don't know if they are going to even come out safe.
:06:59. > :07:03.People have lost their homes. Children have seen things. People
:07:04. > :07:08.were jumping out the window. We just need to rebuild as a community. As
:07:09. > :07:16.the search for casualties continued, so does the search for answers. What
:07:17. > :07:20.led to this fire and how did it spread so quickly in a newly
:07:21. > :07:20.modernised block, destroying homes, traumatising families and taking
:07:21. > :07:26.lives? President Trump has praised
:07:27. > :07:29.the bravery of police officers who shot a gunman who opened fire
:07:30. > :07:31.on Republican politicians. The attack took place at a baseball
:07:32. > :07:36.practice for a annual charity match. Five people were wounded, including
:07:37. > :07:38.a senior Republican, Steve Scalees, the House Majority Whip and two
:07:39. > :07:52.of the police officers. This was a regular morning baseball
:07:53. > :08:01.practice that a gunman tried to turn into a killing field. At least 50
:08:02. > :08:11.shots were fired. A congressman was shot in the head. We saw Steve
:08:12. > :08:19.Scalees on the field, and he dragged himself to safety. There were shots
:08:20. > :08:25.going overhead from both sides, so finally, when I heard that the
:08:26. > :08:30.shooter was down, I just ran low out to Steve and started putting
:08:31. > :08:35.pressure on the wound. The gunmen was shot by police. The Capitol Hill
:08:36. > :08:42.security detail is there to keep politicians safe. The emotional
:08:43. > :08:47.shock of seeing your friends shot. You are helpless. You have a
:08:48. > :08:54.baseball bat and they have a rifle. The gunmen has died in hospital. He
:08:55. > :08:59.is thought to be 66-year-old James T Hodgkinson from Belleville,
:09:00. > :09:03.Illinois. His motive is unknown. The shooting has shaken Washington. Both
:09:04. > :09:12.sides of the political aisle are in shot. When you go to practice for a
:09:13. > :09:14.game for charity and you have dodge bullets and your colleagues are
:09:15. > :09:19.shot, it is my breaking point. This hate hath to stop. I was shaken by
:09:20. > :09:26.the news of a shooting earlier this morning at a baseball field, where
:09:27. > :09:32.many of my friends and colleagues were practising for the annual
:09:33. > :09:36.congressional baseball game. We are united in our shock and anguish. An
:09:37. > :09:49.attack on one of ours is an attack on all of us. President Donald Trump
:09:50. > :09:54.cancelled. We may have our differences, but we do well in times
:09:55. > :10:01.like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation 's capital
:10:02. > :10:07.is here because, above all, they love our country. It is not yet
:10:08. > :10:10.known whether or not this was an assassination attempt. There are
:10:11. > :10:15.reports that the gunmen asked whether or not this was a Democrat
:10:16. > :10:20.or Republican practice. The annual game between the two sides was due
:10:21. > :10:27.to be held tomorrow. It's been held of 1909 and is a genuine moment of
:10:28. > :10:40.political bipartisanship. It's now marred by violence. I now want to
:10:41. > :10:48.turn to the BBC's coverage of the tower block fire in London.
:10:49. > :10:53.Throughout the day here we have heard all sorts of accounts from
:10:54. > :10:57.residents. Spare a thought for the people who have come out to
:10:58. > :11:01.stairwells that were filled with smoke, and have come to terms with
:11:02. > :11:06.the idea that they have lost their world possessions and need to find
:11:07. > :11:11.emergency accommodation. It has been very difficult for the residents of
:11:12. > :11:14.West London. We will hear stories throughout the evening about how
:11:15. > :11:18.people are helping with accommodation and showers,
:11:19. > :11:22.everything they can do to support people with what they have been
:11:23. > :11:26.through. In the last short while we have heard from the London Fire
:11:27. > :11:30.Brigade. Firefighters have made it to the top of the building. That
:11:31. > :11:36.doesn't mean they have carried out a thorough search of those areas, but
:11:37. > :11:40.they have made it there. Structurally, it is still standing.
:11:41. > :11:45.There are structural engineers taking a view of the building as it
:11:46. > :11:50.continues to burn, and ensuring that the firemen who are working around
:11:51. > :11:56.it, and there are still plenty here, are safe. There is still debris and
:11:57. > :12:01.masonry falling off, so it's a very unsafe atmosphere. They have managed
:12:02. > :12:05.to get a hydraulic crane up, targeting water into the centre of
:12:06. > :12:09.the building so they don't have to put officers in danger. Let's speak
:12:10. > :12:17.to someone who has been involved today. Your aunt was in the building
:12:18. > :12:22.last night. She managed to get out safely. Where was she? She was on
:12:23. > :12:30.the second floor of the Grenfell Tower. I got there at about 1am. The
:12:31. > :12:35.whole side of the facade was engulfed in flames. I've been there
:12:36. > :12:41.ever since. I haven't left the site yet. Within four hours, the whole
:12:42. > :12:46.building had gone up. As each hour went on, the exterior, the panels
:12:47. > :12:51.and the cladding, was catching fire and that appeared to be spreading
:12:52. > :12:56.the inferno. It was definitely just on the one side. I was standing
:12:57. > :13:05.there when I got the phone call about the tower being on fire. As I
:13:06. > :13:11.was making my way down the A40, you could see it from miles away. When I
:13:12. > :13:16.got the call, my aunt was at home. What she had done was someone had
:13:17. > :13:21.alerted her before I could, so she sent a text message telling her sons
:13:22. > :13:27.that she was OK. She left the property as soon as she could. She
:13:28. > :13:32.does suffer from arthritis, so her movements are less than ours, but
:13:33. > :13:38.luckily she was on a low level, the second floor, and it was much easier
:13:39. > :13:42.to get out. Anyone above a certain flaw in that tower block either
:13:43. > :13:48.struggled or didn't get out. My aunt has lived here many years. Probably
:13:49. > :13:54.around the same time as me, 27 years. Did she have concerns about
:13:55. > :14:01.the safety of the building? The community is kind of close around
:14:02. > :14:05.here. When people talk, word gets out, and everyone gets involved in
:14:06. > :14:10.everyone's business. Grenfell Tower has a history of issues in the past.
:14:11. > :14:15.It's something we have always been aware of. Something was done about
:14:16. > :14:22.it. I do not live in the block myself. It was only refurbished
:14:23. > :14:25.about a year ago, so you would have thought that any regulations or
:14:26. > :14:31.safety concerns would have been taken care of. Was she asleep when
:14:32. > :14:36.the fire began? It was 2am, so she would have been. Did she tell you
:14:37. > :14:43.what she came out of the apartment to? She just absolutely ran out. The
:14:44. > :14:47.first thing you do when you go into that mode is survival. Survival of
:14:48. > :14:55.yourself and those around you. You just want to get out. I saw her fit
:14:56. > :14:59.and well, luckily. I could put my worries to rest, but there were
:15:00. > :15:05.people who are friends of ours who we still haven't heard from, and we
:15:06. > :15:10.are still waiting to hear from. So presumably she knows many of the
:15:11. > :15:15.people around. Absolutely. Some of the people have lived there for more
:15:16. > :15:20.than 30 years. It has affected people in that building and everyone
:15:21. > :15:26.around. If you look around, there's people from other places who have
:15:27. > :15:31.come in, just to help. From all religions and races. Everything has
:15:32. > :15:37.been put aside for today. It's amazing to watch, the police, the
:15:38. > :15:42.fire brigade and all the emergency services helping. Breathtaking.
:15:43. > :15:49.Where will she go tonight? Are you housing her? I will do so by all
:15:50. > :15:54.means, and I know she is a strong woman and will do what she can to
:15:55. > :16:00.sort this out for herself. She has two lovely sons, my cousins, who are
:16:01. > :16:05.taking care of her at the moment. Thank keeper talking to us. I'm glad
:16:06. > :16:10.to say that his auntie managed to get out safely. There has been an
:16:11. > :16:15.extraordinary effort by the community today. Emergency centres
:16:16. > :16:18.and churches around the building providing shelter, food and
:16:19. > :16:24.clothing. Some of the residents around here just giving people a
:16:25. > :16:29.shower so they can get clean. Tonight, of course, many of them
:16:30. > :16:35.looking for emergency accommodation. Some hotels in the area are offering
:16:36. > :16:39.accommodation. Some concerns that the Council of Kensington and
:16:40. > :16:43.Chelsea are not doing enough for those from neighbouring apartment
:16:44. > :16:47.blocks who have had to vacate. Let's hear first from our special
:16:48. > :16:52.correspondent. The air was punctuated by the sound
:16:53. > :17:01.of crying. Some have loft their home. Others much, much more. They
:17:02. > :17:06.gathered outside the community centre, but the one thing no one
:17:07. > :17:08.could offer was good news. For the Shakira family, it was,
:17:09. > :17:32.understandably, to much. Susan Shakira gave us this picture
:17:33. > :17:43.of her smiling nieces. What floor where your family on? 22nd. You
:17:44. > :17:48.haven't been able to contact them at all? I spoke to my sister when she
:17:49. > :17:56.was in there. All I could hear was people screaming. Even the police
:17:57. > :18:02.officer heard me shouting. I really just wanted to go in there. I felt
:18:03. > :18:09.helpless just standing there. A blanket at least. In the last hour,
:18:10. > :18:16.Susan Heard news that someone might have spoken to her family. She is
:18:17. > :18:24.hoping it's true. After the panic of the night, the day brought only
:18:25. > :18:31.silence. My brother-in-law, his wife and three children are missing. The
:18:32. > :18:38.children's age is 20, 16 or 17, and a boy of eight years. As the Med
:18:39. > :18:44.spoke to them as they were trapped. I said, why are you not coming? She
:18:45. > :18:48.said, they are asking us to stay. My husband is talking to the emergency
:18:49. > :18:53.people. She said, it is all right, they are coming to get us, but the
:18:54. > :18:57.heat and the smoke is coming. I said, get a wet blanket, put the
:18:58. > :19:03.kids on the floor, and cover them and wait. She said, we can't do it,
:19:04. > :19:08.because the smoke is killing us. It's coming through the doors. It's
:19:09. > :19:14.heavy. That's the last time we heard from her. For those on the lower
:19:15. > :19:23.floors who did make it out and to the centre, some relief. I woke up
:19:24. > :19:28.at around 1245 in my living room, to a woman screaming, my baby, my baby,
:19:29. > :19:33.help me, and the sounds of chaos. Police were coming through the
:19:34. > :19:40.walkway knocking on everyone's door, saying to evacuate. Get the hell out
:19:41. > :19:43.of there. This thing is going up. This man was saved by his friend
:19:44. > :19:50.calling him and telling him to leave. The smoke was so thick you
:19:51. > :19:54.just couldn't see anything. I got maybe three quarters of the way, and
:19:55. > :20:01.I was using my hands to feel against the wall. I began thinking to myself
:20:02. > :20:06.that it was going to be me, I would die of the smoke inhalation. There
:20:07. > :20:11.was a fireman lying on the ground. This fireman saved my life, because
:20:12. > :20:16.he touched my foot and kind of lead me where the fire exit was. Ed was
:20:17. > :20:21.instrumental in raising concerns about the safety of the building
:20:22. > :20:26.years ago. This accident never needed to happen. If people had
:20:27. > :20:30.listened to what we were saying, what the blog was saying, what other
:20:31. > :20:36.members of the community were saying... This is an accident that
:20:37. > :20:43.never needed to happen. Inside the centre those who are waiting for
:20:44. > :20:49.news or who have lost their homes have gathered in the hall. It is a
:20:50. > :20:54.fairly distressing situation at times. People are sobbing as they
:20:55. > :20:59.wait for news, news that may not be good news at this time. It is also
:21:00. > :21:05.busy in there. They are getting help with housing, food and medical help.
:21:06. > :21:10.They have no homes to go back to, and now it's not just the burnt out
:21:11. > :21:13.building that looms over this community, but the fear that they
:21:14. > :21:23.will hear that many more of their neighbours have died.
:21:24. > :21:27.No doubt we will be facing some sad news in the hours ahead, because
:21:28. > :21:32.that recovery operation is ongoing. Let's speak to someone who has been
:21:33. > :21:40.helping today, providing spiritual help and a shoulder to cry on, the
:21:41. > :21:43.right reverend Doctor Graham Tomlin, the Bishop of Kensington. You were
:21:44. > :21:47.just telling me while we were watching the report said that you
:21:48. > :21:52.have been providing some help to the firemen and the emergency services
:21:53. > :21:57.who have been in there. They have to deal with these traumatic situations
:21:58. > :22:01.as well. Exactly. Around the tower block there are crowds of Fire
:22:02. > :22:05.Service, ambulance and police, who are all dealing with the immediate
:22:06. > :22:12.issue themselves, trying to put out the fire. Then they'd begin to have
:22:13. > :22:16.to see what can be done with the building and the bodies inside. I
:22:17. > :22:21.have been spending time talking to our clergy and giving them someone
:22:22. > :22:27.to talk to. I think they appreciate their people who give them time to
:22:28. > :22:32.hear their stories and for them to unburden themselves to. A lot of
:22:33. > :22:36.people in the early hours work on adrenaline and want to get
:22:37. > :22:40.themselves to safety. Tonight they will be processing what they have
:22:41. > :22:46.been through. Tell us about some of the stories you've come across and
:22:47. > :22:50.how you are helping. Some are pretty grim stories of firefighters having
:22:51. > :22:55.to go into the building, cope with the heat and the water jets there,
:22:56. > :22:58.the equipment they have on the hottest day of the year, that they
:22:59. > :23:07.are having to step over bodies and kind of manage the trauma of that
:23:08. > :23:10.kind of thing. They are used to it. They are very professional. One of
:23:11. > :23:16.the things that struck me talking to them was how calm they were. But in
:23:17. > :23:20.the days to come, they have realised that a lot of the memories are going
:23:21. > :23:25.to come back, because they haven't been through this on this scale
:23:26. > :23:31.before. Firefighters of 30 years haven't ever seen anything like
:23:32. > :23:34.this. We have spoken from the fire brigade commander in charge today,
:23:35. > :23:39.saying that she had never seen anything like this in a high-rise
:23:40. > :23:48.before. There are concerns there isn't enough accommodation for
:23:49. > :23:54.people. I have just been down to a nearby church, where there are a lot
:23:55. > :23:59.of people today. They have been told that accommodation is being provided
:24:00. > :24:04.for them. Those who are there are being taken to respite centres and
:24:05. > :24:09.other places. A lot of other churches locally have set themselves
:24:10. > :24:14.up as places where people can stay, like St John's in Notting Hill up
:24:15. > :24:18.the road. They have 40 beds in the body of the church for people. The
:24:19. > :24:23.council have told us that accommodation has been found.
:24:24. > :24:28.Whether we will actually... Whether that is true, we will find out. It's
:24:29. > :24:33.not just those in the block, it's everyone around who has been
:24:34. > :24:39.evacuated. Most people around here who need a bed tonight are people in
:24:40. > :24:43.the local area from the blocks nearby who have been evacuated. I
:24:44. > :24:49.was talking to one family who were evacuated late last night, and they
:24:50. > :24:53.had to come out without anything. Clothes, nothing. The mother is on
:24:54. > :24:59.medication, and had to leave it behind. A lot of distress around.
:25:00. > :25:02.You get to know the community. Are there still members of your
:25:03. > :25:08.congregation who are unaccounted for? I am the Bishop of the area, so
:25:09. > :25:13.I know some of them. I was talking to one of our Filipino priests
:25:14. > :25:18.earlier. He is anxious about a number of people he knows of who
:25:19. > :25:23.were in the block who haven't been accounted for. There are good news
:25:24. > :25:27.stories. I spoke to one of the firemen who brought out one of the
:25:28. > :25:34.last survivors at around 9am. They were up on one of the flaws.
:25:35. > :25:43.Suddenly, a door opens, an elderly gentleman walks out, it sounded like
:25:44. > :25:45.he was blind. They took him out safely, one of the last out of the
:25:46. > :25:50.building. So there are good news stories like that but I expect there
:25:51. > :25:54.are worse to come. Thank you for talking to us. If you do want to
:25:55. > :25:56.help and you want to know about anyone who might have been trapped
:25:57. > :26:18.in that building, there is a line. High pressure brought some warm
:26:19. > :26:20.weather to parts of England and Wales today. This warm front working