:00:10. > :00:20.Hello. Good morning. This is North Kensington in London and behind me
:00:21. > :00:25.about 250 meters away is Grenfell Tower or in fact what remains of
:00:26. > :00:32.Grenfell Tower. You can see perhaps in the bottom left of your picture
:00:33. > :00:37.water from the Fire Service from the emergency services still, still
:00:38. > :00:43.being projected on to the tower. This is what, eight hours after the
:00:44. > :00:49.fire began. Certainly eight hours after the calls were first made to
:00:50. > :00:55.the London Fire Brigade. What you notice as soon as you get here is
:00:56. > :01:00.the smell. The burning smell of acrid smoke. All around us are
:01:01. > :01:06.charred remnants which have blown in the wind from that tower and all
:01:07. > :01:09.around us are shocked and devastated residents. People who have escaped
:01:10. > :01:14.from this tower, people who know people who live in the tower and
:01:15. > :01:21.people who were very confused about how a modern block of flats could be
:01:22. > :01:27.consumed by fire so rapidly in this country in 2017. This, you don't
:01:28. > :01:32.have to be a fire safety expert to know that something has gone
:01:33. > :01:34.chronically wrong. This is what we know so far.
:01:35. > :01:40.Eyewitnesses say people are still trapped and there
:01:41. > :01:43.are fears that the tower block could collapse.
:01:44. > :01:52.More than 200 firefighters are still tackling the blaze
:01:53. > :01:59.To the right of your picture there are flames in the middle of the
:02:00. > :02:04.tower block still. The building is thought to be at least 24 storeys
:02:05. > :02:08.high. London Ambulance say 50 people are receiving hospital treatment
:02:09. > :02:14.and, "A significant number of people are thought to be unaccounted for."
:02:15. > :02:18.This morning we're going to show you footage that is distressing. Footage
:02:19. > :02:23.that has been filmed by people who live here, local residents and this
:02:24. > :02:28.was the scene at around 4am. So three hours after the Fire Brigade
:02:29. > :02:35.received their first calls. This was the scene at around 4am. Flames
:02:36. > :02:38.engulfing the entire building. Eyewitnesses reported people being
:02:39. > :02:43.trapped in the block, desperately turning not only their lights, but
:02:44. > :02:48.their phone lights, the lights on their smartphones, trying to attract
:02:49. > :02:54.attention and call for help. Residents heard people crying out,
:02:55. > :02:57."Help me. Help me." It has been reported that residents saw children
:02:58. > :03:02.being thrown out of the building in a desperate attempt to save them.
:03:03. > :03:05.We're going to talk to people who escaped from the tower this morning.
:03:06. > :03:09.We're going to talk to local residents. I mean this is absolutely
:03:10. > :03:13.devastating for this community clearly.
:03:14. > :03:20.I'm going to introduce you to someone who is with me. You escaped
:03:21. > :03:27.from your flat on the fourth floor. Tell us what happened. It was just
:03:28. > :03:31.before 1am. My wife and I were in the sitting room. The kids were
:03:32. > :03:39.asleep obviously. You have two young children? Yeah, two young children.
:03:40. > :03:47.A two-year-old and a three-year-old and a boy and a girl. There was a
:03:48. > :03:52.sudden bang on the door before 1am and when I went to investigate, I
:03:53. > :03:57.was greeted by smoke and some dark cloud. So the bang at the door was
:03:58. > :04:04.someone knocking on your door? To alert us and once I opened the door
:04:05. > :04:08.there was so much smoke, I shut it. There was no one standing there
:04:09. > :04:16.because the person attempted to knock more doors. I got towels and
:04:17. > :04:22.wet them and I alerted my wife screaming, "Fire. Fire. Fire." Went
:04:23. > :04:26.into the kids room and wrapped the towels over their heads and
:04:27. > :04:31.proceeded to just exit the premises. It was so dark and there was so much
:04:32. > :04:35.smoke. There was people running down the stairs. Some people even had
:04:36. > :04:40.luggage. There was just so much confusion. There was no sound of
:04:41. > :04:44.alarm or bells whatsoever. Is there a fire alarm in Grenfell Tower?
:04:45. > :04:50.Generally there would have been a fire alarm that would go off in such
:04:51. > :04:58.incidents, bau there was none and we only heard that alarm after 1.30am.
:04:59. > :05:01.So, this was like an actual fail in terms of safety measures that should
:05:02. > :05:07.have been in place to alert the residents. So no fire alarm, but
:05:08. > :05:11.someone banging on your door, you get your wife and your two children?
:05:12. > :05:15.I knocked on the door on my right-hand side, I gave a good two
:05:16. > :05:23.kicks and kept running because at this point I didn't want the kids to
:05:24. > :05:27.be inhaling anymore more smoke. As you were trying to run down the
:05:28. > :05:33.stairs, how far ahead of you could you see? How dark was it? It was too
:05:34. > :05:38.dark. It was too dark. Arm's length. Arm's length. The hole fire started
:05:39. > :05:41.off on the fourth floor and I live on the fourth floor. How do you know
:05:42. > :05:46.that? Because once we were going down the stairs and we came to the
:05:47. > :05:51.ground floor exiting the premises I was confronted by my neighbour who
:05:52. > :05:56.lives at number 16. He said look, are you OK? He was checking me and
:05:57. > :06:01.the kids? Are you all right? Is your wife? I know his wife was in the
:06:02. > :06:07.premises. I did show concern, where is your wife? He said no, it is just
:06:08. > :06:12.me, it was my house, my fridge exploded. The guy who lived next
:06:13. > :06:17.door to you on the fourth floor said his fridge exploded? At which point
:06:18. > :06:25.the Fire Brigade were well aware of it. The supervising, the senior Fire
:06:26. > :06:28.Brigade were also there when they took some statement or some
:06:29. > :06:33.understanding from him what was going on. What time was that then?
:06:34. > :06:39.What time was it when you got out at the bottom of your block of flats?
:06:40. > :06:43.This is no later than 1.10am. OK. At that point there was smoke on fourth
:06:44. > :06:47.floor, down the stairwell, clearly, in your next door neighbour's flat?
:06:48. > :06:51.It has gone up to the fifth floor through the stairs. The doors were
:06:52. > :06:56.open because people were constantly going in and out. When you got out
:06:57. > :07:00.and you looked up at the tower block, where did you see flames or
:07:01. > :07:04.did you not at that point? When we got out, we were the first ten
:07:05. > :07:09.families that would have been out of that promises to be honest with you.
:07:10. > :07:14.With speed and just, we just went out. Now, there was very small
:07:15. > :07:20.amount of fire on the whole premises. It would have been no
:07:21. > :07:25.higher than an average tree height. This would be in three rows of
:07:26. > :07:33.panels that were on fire. That we were by the green underneath
:07:34. > :07:37.Grenfell and I had my child in my arms and I said did you see fire? He
:07:38. > :07:42.was fascinated because he's only three. Did it look like the
:07:43. > :07:45.emergency services are here, there is going to be more of them, they
:07:46. > :07:48.will project the water on to the blaze? It seemed like it was
:07:49. > :07:51.controllable and everyone was confident it was controllable. We
:07:52. > :07:56.were very close to the building. What happened then is very, very
:07:57. > :08:00.happenedly the flames started climbing up towards the right column
:08:01. > :08:08.of Grenfell Tower. We were like I said, we were the first few people
:08:09. > :08:16.and we are seeing the Fire Brigade and the emergency services, we see
:08:17. > :08:20.it that it can be tackled. They can probably swing this the fire
:08:21. > :08:25.engines, but there are bollards that are blocking off the Fire Brigade
:08:26. > :08:27.from coming into the green and parking. There were hoses
:08:28. > :08:31.everywhere. The Fire Brigade were doing their best. They were
:08:32. > :08:35.gathering information and intelligence from the residents who
:08:36. > :08:39.came out as to where the incident and the fire was taking place, what
:08:40. > :08:44.they know so far. So the residents were giving as much information to
:08:45. > :08:49.the Fire Service, but also there was a sense of hesitation from the Fire
:08:50. > :08:56.Brigade because they weren't willing to tackle this. It was not tackled
:08:57. > :09:00.straightaway in a sense, this hose on the Fire Brigade activity
:09:01. > :09:04.starting well into 2am and maybe 3am sorry. Now... That's not the
:09:05. > :09:10.information that we're getting from the Fire Brigade, but... No, but in
:09:11. > :09:14.terms of tackling the fire and letting out the water and more in
:09:15. > :09:19.support units for the Fire Brigade arriving, it was not until about
:09:20. > :09:24.3am. This took a significant amount of time. Even my personal house keys
:09:25. > :09:27.is what I gave to the Fire Brigade as they couldn't gain access to the
:09:28. > :09:33.building itself. So when we were out, we came just to the front door,
:09:34. > :09:39.I set the kids down. Are you OK? The door slammed shut. The Fire Brigade
:09:40. > :09:45.couldn't even get into the blag. Building. So I said here, there is
:09:46. > :09:51.my keys, take the fob. So I gave them my fob. They can smash the door
:09:52. > :09:56.down. They were stuck. They had a lot of equipment they wanted to take
:09:57. > :10:03.into the premises. Some of the equipment was oxygen tanks. So I am
:10:04. > :10:11.assuming with the policy in Grenfell Tower, it's a case of emergency
:10:12. > :10:15.services and fire, there is a stay put policy. What do you mean? Who is
:10:16. > :10:21.imposing that policy? Where is that coming from? There is a sticker all
:10:22. > :10:27.around every floor by the lifts that says, "In case of an emergency,
:10:28. > :10:31.there is a stay put policy if you are within your premises stay put."
:10:32. > :10:39.In this case what I assumed because they were going up, they were going
:10:40. > :10:44.to take as much oxygen tanks up. But access and not gaining access and
:10:45. > :10:51.also the fire support units not having the right access into the
:10:52. > :10:56.building was a bit of a struggle. By this time, the right column of the
:10:57. > :11:01.building was already engulfed in flames. The left-hand side of the
:11:02. > :11:08.building and the middle column where would be the stairwell looked
:11:09. > :11:13.cleaner and a lot less disturbances. At which point there is more
:11:14. > :11:19.explosions and bangs and like purple blue flames. It was rapid. The fire
:11:20. > :11:28.was growing well out of control. Can I ask you why you think the fire
:11:29. > :11:32.consumed Grenfell Tower so speedily? We don't know, but you've lived
:11:33. > :11:36.there for how long? I've lived there since February, but since February I
:11:37. > :11:39.have been campaigning against the shortfalls that have been happening
:11:40. > :11:44.at Grenfell Tower. I have been speaking to the housing officers and
:11:45. > :11:54.the representatives... That's the management? About gas pipes being
:11:55. > :11:58.stored on the stairwell which are has hardous and in the case of a
:11:59. > :12:04.fire that could easily explode. That is causing a lot of people not to go
:12:05. > :12:07.down the stairs. With the explosions the people on the higher level would
:12:08. > :12:11.have stayed in their place as it is much more safer. There was no lift
:12:12. > :12:18.in this situation. There is only the stairs. The stairs, there is smoke.
:12:19. > :12:22.It's dark, it's scary. It's a trip hazard. There was all sorts, there
:12:23. > :12:28.is elderly, there is children, there is disabled people, there is luggage
:12:29. > :12:34.in the stairwell. Some lights were not working. So it was so dark in
:12:35. > :12:40.there. It's incredible. It's incredible we survived. So many
:12:41. > :12:43.people were left inside. We had so many relatives and family that
:12:44. > :12:47.called and said, "We are still trapped. Let the Fire Service know
:12:48. > :12:53.we are still here." A kid called to say he was trapped in his room. It's
:12:54. > :12:59.a very horrible situation. Lives have been lost. I can confirm that
:13:00. > :13:03.lives have been lost there have been fatalities of some of our friends
:13:04. > :13:11.and some of our family and some of our loved ones and neighbours. I'm
:13:12. > :13:16.really sorry. It's heartaching. It really is. You just don't know,
:13:17. > :13:23.right now, we can only offer prayers. We can only offer support
:13:24. > :13:29.to the people who have lost loved ones. We can only pray for those who
:13:30. > :13:35.have passed away. We can only praise the Fire Service for their efforts.
:13:36. > :13:41.We can only prays the emergency services for their efforts in trying
:13:42. > :13:46.to make some sort of sense and save as many people as they can. This was
:13:47. > :13:51.really horrific. There is people who were jumping out of the place. There
:13:52. > :14:01.is a man who threw two of his children.
:14:02. > :14:12.Wow. We saw a lot. We saw a lot with our own eyes. We saw friends,
:14:13. > :14:15.families... It's all right, you do not up to say any more. I am so
:14:16. > :14:30.sorry. Mahad really emotional and
:14:31. > :14:33.distressed but managed to tell us in an incredibly articulate way how he
:14:34. > :14:40.escaped Grenfell Tower with his two young children and his wife, some
:14:41. > :14:46.incredibly distressing descriptions of some of the people who lived in
:14:47. > :14:53.the tower and did manage to get out. Simone helped a lot of people, tell
:14:54. > :14:59.us how you helped? Around 1230 I was in my living room and heard a lot of
:15:00. > :15:03.sirens and helicopters, but I know my road is blocked off so I was
:15:04. > :15:11.wondering where they were going to. As a nurse it's my duty to help so I
:15:12. > :15:14.came outside, I saw people running, I asked Willey were running and they
:15:15. > :15:19.said there was a fire. I ran to the cordon and told them I was a nurse,
:15:20. > :15:26.can I help and they said sure. They station me beside the leisure
:15:27. > :15:31.centre. I have seen some things but today I cannot even describe it.
:15:32. > :15:37.Mothers have come out and lost children. Firefighters have come out
:15:38. > :15:46.injured, we don't know if they can come out safe. The police, they were
:15:47. > :15:50.amazing. At one point, around 1:30am, around about 30 men, I don't
:15:51. > :15:54.know where they appeared from and they were all trying to rush towards
:15:55. > :16:02.the building and it was very unsafe, I tried to help the police to calm
:16:03. > :16:06.them down, they said the police did not care about them, but that was
:16:07. > :16:12.not true, the police did care about them. It was horrendous. As a
:16:13. > :16:16.community I don't know how we will get over this, I am not interested
:16:17. > :16:22.in the whys and the house, it is how do we move forward? What do we do as
:16:23. > :16:26.a community? People have lost homes, children have seen things, people
:16:27. > :16:31.were jumping out the window. We just need to rebuild as a community now.
:16:32. > :16:37.There are many questions, Simone, thank you for talking to us, we
:16:38. > :16:40.really appreciate it. There are many of you watching who will know
:16:41. > :16:44.exactly where we are right now but for those around the country let me
:16:45. > :16:51.try to describe where we are, we are about 250 metres or so from Grenfell
:16:52. > :16:58.Tower. Behind me is Latimer Road Tube station, you can see the
:16:59. > :17:06.railway line there just in front of the tower, that is the underground
:17:07. > :17:12.line. From Latimer Road it takes you to Ladbroke growth which is Notting
:17:13. > :17:15.Hill, the borough is Kensington and Chelsea, one of the richest in the
:17:16. > :17:24.country. I spoke to the council leader earlier who said it's very
:17:25. > :17:30.early stages. He had no steer on how this buyer managed to spread so
:17:31. > :17:38.rapidly. Now steer on the cause. He said what they needed to establish
:17:39. > :17:43.is the many people were in the flats. We know there were at least
:17:44. > :17:49.120 apartments, we do not know how many were in each of the flats. He
:17:50. > :17:51.says it is devastating, he thanked the emergency services and confirmed
:17:52. > :17:56.Grenfell Tower had been recently refurbished. He went on to tell me
:17:57. > :18:02.that my understanding is it would have had to pass a number of
:18:03. > :18:07.stringent fire safety regulations after the refurbishment. We will try
:18:08. > :18:11.to talk to him alive later on, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea
:18:12. > :18:19.Council. Let me introduce you to more local residents, Moira, and
:18:20. > :18:26.Linda, thank you so much for talking to us. This is absolutely
:18:27. > :18:32.devastating for this community. It's absolutely shocking. Because they
:18:33. > :18:38.have, I'm afraid, been some cause for concern on the safety of
:18:39. > :18:44.Grenfell Tower. So in some ways it's horrific but in some ways it was I
:18:45. > :18:49.feel it was an accident waiting to happen. The concerns you are
:18:50. > :18:57.referring to come from the Grenfell action group who wrote a blob post
:18:58. > :19:02.in November last year, warning there would be some kind of catastrophe
:19:03. > :19:08.and stating, I think it will take a loss of life for people to take our
:19:09. > :19:11.concerns seriously. Absolutely. They warned about the instructions
:19:12. > :19:17.residents had been given about what to do in a fire, about some of the
:19:18. > :19:20.safety features around the building especially given there had been a
:19:21. > :19:23.lot of building work around there and the residents felt their safety
:19:24. > :19:31.had not been taken seriously in light of the fact we had had a fire
:19:32. > :19:37.in the borough, and in 2013 there had been a massive power surge which
:19:38. > :19:41.had concern a lot of residents. I think that worries us as local
:19:42. > :19:50.residents about the extent to which the borough is taking seriously the
:19:51. > :19:58.safety of council tenants. This is a council owned block but it is run by
:19:59. > :20:02.an management agency. Let me ask you what you first heard and saw, what
:20:03. > :20:09.you could smell in the early hours this morning? I heard the helicopter
:20:10. > :20:13.circulating and I went and got into my living room, I live on the corner
:20:14. > :20:20.and there is another tower block just there. I thought, it would like
:20:21. > :20:26.a fire in the window so I went and got my husband, I said I think it's
:20:27. > :20:31.a light and he said no, it's a reflection. I walked out the back
:20:32. > :20:40.and this way was all red, it must've been reflecting. We ran down that
:20:41. > :20:52.way and all the side was on fire, about 2am. There were people
:20:53. > :20:57.screaming. But their windows. It was going to the middle and there were
:20:58. > :21:03.people at the top window in the corner and I was shaking, please let
:21:04. > :21:09.somebody help them, I could hear women and all that. There were big
:21:10. > :21:14.blue flames and banging and everything was falling. The light
:21:15. > :21:20.was on and then it went to the middle and over and the light went
:21:21. > :21:28.out and I just turns and is it went up. And what did you first see or
:21:29. > :21:33.hear or smell, that is the one thing which strikes me coming here, we are
:21:34. > :21:37.surrounded by bits of charred remains from the debris which has
:21:38. > :21:43.blown out of the tower and you can smell that acrid smoke. At around
:21:44. > :21:48.quarter to two I was woken up by my son who said you need to come and
:21:49. > :21:54.look on the balcony because Grenfell , there is a block on fire, a flat
:21:55. > :22:01.on fire. I went on the balcony and there was only a section at 145 that
:22:02. > :22:05.was on fire. At that point I said that is awful, it reminds me of the
:22:06. > :22:10.fire at Hammersmith, hopefully the fire brigade are dealing with it. I
:22:11. > :22:15.then actually fell back asleep but was woken up an hour later, went
:22:16. > :22:18.back on the balcony and by this time my daughter was in floods of tears
:22:19. > :22:23.and said she had been called by a number of her friends in the area
:22:24. > :22:29.saying they were down stairs at Grenfell and people were calling for
:22:30. > :22:37.help. I went back on the balcony and by then the flames had taken over
:22:38. > :22:44.and spread quite rapidly. By 4am the whole building was on fire, it was
:22:45. > :22:50.shocking. I just hearing Sadiq Khan is going to give news conference at
:22:51. > :22:54.quarter to ten, about 20 minutes time, we will bring that to you
:22:55. > :22:58.live. He has already said this morning questions will need to be
:22:59. > :23:05.answered following the deadly fire at the London tower block. Some
:23:06. > :23:09.residents have said to me the building had been refurbished
:23:10. > :23:12.recently, the last six months, and external cladding could potentially
:23:13. > :23:19.be a problem, we do not know of course. We heard from Mahad who said
:23:20. > :23:24.his neighbour had had some kind of fridge blow-up which could have
:23:25. > :23:28.potentially started a fire, what are you hearing in terms of the
:23:29. > :23:34.refurbishment? I think all of us have talked about the cladding, we
:23:35. > :23:40.have talked about whether or not, because I think for us it's quite
:23:41. > :23:46.shocking... Is it the same that is on that school? To the left, you can
:23:47. > :23:55.see the green and blue, is that plastic? I am not sure. Is that a
:23:56. > :23:58.school? Yes. So that is the same cladding on the school you can see
:23:59. > :24:04.in your picture which was on the whole of the tower block? When they
:24:05. > :24:10.rebuilt the school and refurbished the sports centre, the swimming
:24:11. > :24:16.pool, they put on as a kind of compensation for the tower that had
:24:17. > :24:25.endure two years of building work, they put the cladding on. This is a
:24:26. > :24:32.tower block built in 1974, it is not old and credit, it should withstand
:24:33. > :24:35.all sorts one would have thought. My brother is terrified, he lives in
:24:36. > :24:41.the tower block over there on the 17th floor and now he has said he's
:24:42. > :24:48.not going to sleep at night, they should have sprinkler systems, he
:24:49. > :24:51.said, how will he know if there is a fire on the forest floor? He is
:24:52. > :25:00.scared to death. There should be sprinkler systems, in this day and
:25:01. > :25:09.age, going, water systems, so when there is a fire it comes on. How
:25:10. > :25:12.they can put people in them, and there are loads of tower blocks here
:25:13. > :25:17.all with the same problem and it's got to be done because my brother is
:25:18. > :25:22.on the 17th floor and scared for his life now. Because it is up and down
:25:23. > :25:33.in Shepherd's Bush, not long ago. We do why were worry about the closure
:25:34. > :25:36.of fire stations which Boris Johnson has implicated across London, what
:25:37. > :25:42.effect that has on support services to deal with a disaster like this.
:25:43. > :25:51.Thank you both, my era and Linda, thank you for your time. -- Moira
:25:52. > :25:54.and Linda. What we know so far is a huge and devastating blaze has
:25:55. > :26:01.consumed a tower block here in North Kensington. It is in the middle of
:26:02. > :26:10.two Tube stations between Latimer Road and Ladbroke grove. We now
:26:11. > :26:17.people are being treated in hospitals across London. It has been
:26:18. > :26:21.confirmed there are fatalities, at least 120 flat in Grenfell Tower, we
:26:22. > :26:27.have no idea how many people were in those flats last night. We will show
:26:28. > :26:31.you some footage now which is distressing, upsetting as you would
:26:32. > :26:35.expect from a story of this nature. It shows an individual at a window
:26:36. > :26:42.waiting for help. This footage was taken earlier and we know that that
:26:43. > :26:43.particular area of the tower is not as badly fire damaged as other
:26:44. > :27:12.parts. I'm going to introduce you to our
:27:13. > :27:32.reporter... I'm going to introduce you to our
:27:33. > :27:36.reporter Jim Reed who has been finding out more about what the
:27:37. > :27:40.Grenfell Action Group have been concerned about in recent months.
:27:41. > :27:45.Tell us what know, Jim? A lot of people on social media talking about
:27:46. > :27:47.this. A post in November talking about fire safety and concerns that
:27:48. > :27:54.were raised with various authorities about it. Writing back in November,
:27:55. > :27:58."Only a catastrophic event would expose these issues." And concerns
:27:59. > :28:03.about getting fire trucks and police vehicles up to the building itself.
:28:04. > :28:06.Now the person who wrote the blog post doesn't want to talk on camera,
:28:07. > :28:10.but I have come off the phone to him. He is very, very shaken up as
:28:11. > :28:15.you would imagine. He was on the 16th floor of that building. He says
:28:16. > :28:24.he only got out by the skin of his teeth. He said he wrapped a wet
:28:25. > :28:29.towel around his mouth. A fireman's hand grabbed him towards the stairs
:28:30. > :28:32.and he got his way down. He says, this has come out again and again
:28:33. > :28:37.from other people. No fire alarm. He could hear no fire alarm in that
:28:38. > :28:41.block. He said he was woken by a neighbour's smoke alarm. He talks
:28:42. > :28:45.about warning signs in the building. He says under pressure from this
:28:46. > :28:49.action group they contacted the authorities and about six months ago
:28:50. > :28:54.they did put in some warning signs in the block to tell people what to
:28:55. > :28:59.do in the event of a fire. But the warning signs said, "Stay inside
:29:00. > :29:04.your flat. Board it up. That should give you an hour's worth of time."
:29:05. > :29:08.The speed at which the fire spread means that advice didn't work in
:29:09. > :29:12.this event. He said some of the other blocks in the area, they
:29:13. > :29:15.complained as well, they have not yet received the warning signs so he
:29:16. > :29:18.is very angry about what is happening.
:29:19. > :29:23.And in terms of the people that we have both been speaking to this
:29:24. > :29:26.morning, a lot of confusion. Devastation, people have lost
:29:27. > :29:30.friends and relatives. There is two things that come out, I think and
:29:31. > :29:34.this came out from the interview you did earlier on. The idea that this
:29:35. > :29:39.started on the fourth floor of the block and there is lots of talk
:29:40. > :29:44.about this being a fridge fire. It is unconfirmed, but multiple people
:29:45. > :29:48.told us. The other thing is the idea of cladding on the outside of the
:29:49. > :29:52.building. The building we refurbished a year ago and it is
:29:53. > :29:55.something to do with that school. There was concern when they were
:29:56. > :29:58.building that new academy and as compensation for that they agreed to
:29:59. > :30:03.put the cladding on the outside of the building. A lot of people
:30:04. > :30:07.talking about how quick the fire spread and how the cladding could be
:30:08. > :30:13.blamed for that, no confirmation, but a lot of people talking about
:30:14. > :30:16.it. Thank you, Jim. We are awaiting a news conference from the fire and
:30:17. > :30:21.Ambulance Services. Of course, we will bring that to you. That's due
:30:22. > :30:24.any moment now. An emergency number has been set-up for anyone concerned
:30:25. > :30:37.about friends or relatives in the fire. This number is: 0800 0961 233.
:30:38. > :30:42.That is just for people who are worried about loved ones and who are
:30:43. > :30:51.perhaps trying to find out where they are. Let's talk to someone
:30:52. > :30:57.else. Hi, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. Hi, I'm Victoria. Thank
:30:58. > :31:01.you very much for talking to me. And Kath Burns is here, one of our
:31:02. > :31:05.reporters. I think some of your friends were in the tower, is this
:31:06. > :31:09.correct? I have heard a couple of classmates that were in this tower.
:31:10. > :31:16.One of them made it out safely alive. He is one of my friends. I'm
:31:17. > :31:22.not sure about the other one, but I'm praying and yeah... How old are
:31:23. > :31:25.you? I'm 14 years of age. 14? Yes. Where do you go to school? That
:31:26. > :31:31.academy over there. Which is closed today. Yeah. Presumably a number of
:31:32. > :31:36.pupils from that school live in that tower block? A lot of them live in
:31:37. > :31:39.that tower block. There have been a couple of girls missing that
:31:40. > :31:43.attended the school before. They can't find them. One of them has
:31:44. > :31:47.been found, I'm not sure about the other one. There has been people
:31:48. > :31:52.saying that one of the girl's sisters is in the block. She is only
:31:53. > :31:56.eight years of age and she is still in the building right now as we
:31:57. > :32:03.speak. It's quite touching and sad. How are you? Yeah, I'm just fine.
:32:04. > :32:07.I'm just happy that I am still alive because this could happen to anyone.
:32:08. > :32:10.This really could happen to anyone. As I look around me, just behind
:32:11. > :32:15.you, there is another tower block over there. It doesn't have that
:32:16. > :32:20.cladding on and there is one, I mean there is one right here. This is
:32:21. > :32:25.Whitstable House, this is traditional brick. That's my tower
:32:26. > :32:31.block. That's where you live. Is it OK living there? Yeah, it's good. Of
:32:32. > :32:35.course, like, I don't think the fire would have turned out as bad as this
:32:36. > :32:39.as there is no materials, just concrete, but due to them
:32:40. > :32:45.refurbishing it and using different types of materials obviously they
:32:46. > :32:50.would have set fire. I mean we don't know if that's one of the
:32:51. > :32:54.contributory factors to the fire spreading rapidly, but something
:32:55. > :32:57.went chronically wrong, that's clear because in this day and age a fire
:32:58. > :33:03.should not spread as quickly as it did. Thank you very much. We hope
:33:04. > :33:06.you find your friends. Thank you. Kath, hi, good morning to you, you
:33:07. > :33:11.have been talking to lots of people, as well? People are just absolutely
:33:12. > :33:15.devastated. I walking down the road about an hour ago on this side of
:33:16. > :33:19.the building when a group of people just started pointing out and they
:33:20. > :33:25.started yelling to the paramedics saying they could see someone
:33:26. > :33:31.waving. This is at 8.30am? 8.30am and there was about four different
:33:32. > :33:38.people convinced they had seen a man waving something white, a T-shirt, a
:33:39. > :33:43.pillowcase, they said he was waving half-way on the 11th floor and he
:33:44. > :33:48.just collapsed. Nothing has been seen since. We don't know if what
:33:49. > :33:52.they saw is true, but they are convinced it's what they saw. How
:33:53. > :33:57.high up the tower was that? It's about half-way up. Right, OK. I have
:33:58. > :34:02.been staring up at that window just to see, it is just ridiculous to see
:34:03. > :34:06.if anything has happened and I can't see a thing, but the people I spoke
:34:07. > :34:09.to, I went back and they are utterly convinced that they saw somebody.
:34:10. > :34:16.Thank you very much, Kath, thank you. This is BBC News. I am going to
:34:17. > :34:21.give you that emergency number again for people who maybe concerned about
:34:22. > :34:29.missing loved ones. The number is: 0800 0961 233.
:34:30. > :34:35.This is what we have learnt this morning from talking in particular
:34:36. > :34:42.to Mahad, a father of two who escaped from the fourth floor at
:34:43. > :34:45.about 1.30am. Someone was banging on his door, his next door neighbour
:34:46. > :34:50.and he opened the door to thick smoke. So he woke up his wife and
:34:51. > :34:56.his two young children. One aged two, one aged three. He put wet
:34:57. > :35:00.towels around their heads. He left his flat and through dark smoke. He
:35:01. > :35:06.could barely see in front of him. He managed to get down the stairs with
:35:07. > :35:12.his family and out of Grenfell Tower and that was about 1.30am, 2am. As
:35:13. > :35:17.he told us, as he looked up at the tower, there were flames no further
:35:18. > :35:24.than perhaps the fourth storey which was his, the floor that he lived on.
:35:25. > :35:28.And he described the fact that it wasn't much longer than that that
:35:29. > :35:33.the flames began to shoot rapidly up the tower block. We can talk now to
:35:34. > :35:40.our correspondent Wyre Davies, where are you and what's the latest? Yes,
:35:41. > :35:45.we are at the corner of Lancaster Road. This is half a mile from the
:35:46. > :35:52.tower block itself which is still on fire. We have got a press conference
:35:53. > :35:57.which is about to start with Dany Cotton from the London Fire Service
:35:58. > :36:01.and Stuart Cundy and Paul Woodrow. These three individuals are arriving
:36:02. > :36:05.now. We'll go live to that press conference as soon as they are in
:36:06. > :36:08.position. We already know, of course, there have been several
:36:09. > :36:11.fatalities today. We are not sure of the numbers, but let's go live to
:36:12. > :36:17.the three commissioners as they speak now.
:36:18. > :36:21.Good morning, everybody. At six minutes to one London Fire Brigade
:36:22. > :36:25.received the first of many calls to a fire in Grenfell Tower that you
:36:26. > :36:30.can see behind me. The first crews were on scene in under six minutes
:36:31. > :36:35.and found a rapidly developing fire. As you can appreciate from looking
:36:36. > :36:40.at the building now, this has been a very serious and a very complex
:36:41. > :36:45.fire. Our firefighters on scene have been working tirelessly and continue
:36:46. > :36:50.to do so to extinguish the fire and search the building for any
:36:51. > :36:55.remaining people inside. We have had at the height over 200 firefighters
:36:56. > :37:00.and 40 fire engines on scene with a range of specialist officers. We
:37:01. > :37:05.have been working closely with all of our partners to establish what is
:37:06. > :37:11.going on here. We will continue to work closely in the coming hours and
:37:12. > :37:16.days to look at the cause of this fire and to investigate what has
:37:17. > :37:20.happened. We have got a structural engineer who in conjunction with my
:37:21. > :37:25.urban search and rescue advisor is monitoring the stability of the
:37:26. > :37:30.building. At the moment the building continues to be safe for our crews
:37:31. > :37:33.to go and work in. I want to thank everybody who has been involved in
:37:34. > :37:40.this ins didn't so far, what has been a very difficult time and send
:37:41. > :37:43.our si sear condolences to everybody involved in this really terrible
:37:44. > :37:48.incident. As you can appreciate this is a very difficult time. It is
:37:49. > :37:54.still in a dynamic stage of this incident and it would be wrong for
:37:55. > :37:57.us to cause about the -- to speculate about the cause of the
:37:58. > :38:02.Fryer or anything further at this moment. We have taken over 50
:38:03. > :38:06.patients to hospitals across London. And clearly, our thoughts are with
:38:07. > :38:13.everyone affected by this tragic events. We have over 100 of our
:38:14. > :38:23.medics working hard here in response to this incident including emergency
:38:24. > :38:26.ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, specialist trauma teams,
:38:27. > :38:30.and hazardous response teams. We continue to work closely with our
:38:31. > :38:36.partners from the London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police
:38:37. > :38:39.Service. Our priority is to ensure that patients get the treatment that
:38:40. > :38:45.they need and are conveyed to hospital as quickly as possible.
:38:46. > :38:50.Whilst we continue to manage this ongoing ins didn't I would like to
:38:51. > :38:56.ask Londoners to only call us in a genuine emergency and if they could
:38:57. > :38:59.call NHS 111 for any urgent health care requirements, thank you. Good
:39:00. > :39:03.morning, everybody. As you've heard this is a very much a dynamic
:39:04. > :39:07.situation at this point in time and clearly my thoughts go out to all
:39:08. > :39:10.those who have been affected and all those residents that are currently
:39:11. > :39:12.displacedment we are working with colleagues from the London Fire
:39:13. > :39:16.Brigade. There are significant number of police officers here in
:39:17. > :39:20.this locality and I know there is significant disruption both in term
:39:21. > :39:25.of road closures, and other travel closures and if you are travelling
:39:26. > :39:30.in this area please go to the TfL website, but I would urge keep to
:39:31. > :39:34.keep away from that vicinity. If you have any concerns, any concerns,
:39:35. > :39:38.about anybody connected to this awful, awful event, please phone the
:39:39. > :39:44.Casualty Bureau. The number has gone out. But to repeat it. It's 0800
:39:45. > :39:50.0961 233 0800 0961 233. That's 0800 0961 233.
:39:51. > :39:57.And if you have any concerns, please use that number rather than dialling
:39:58. > :40:00.999 or 101. If you are a displaced resident, the current reception
:40:01. > :40:07.centre being co-ordinated by the local authority is at the Portobello
:40:08. > :40:10.trust. The local authority will be putting out through their press
:40:11. > :40:14.statements as well. As I say, this is a very dynamic situation. It is
:40:15. > :40:21.very early days. As you can see behind me us at Grenfell Tower, this
:40:22. > :40:24.is a truly, truly shocking fire that's occurred overnight and my
:40:25. > :40:28.thanks to the colleagues from the LFB for the sterling work that
:40:29. > :40:33.they're doing at this point in time. REPORTER: Any word about the
:40:34. > :40:36.integrity of the building itself? There have been concerns from
:40:37. > :40:41.residents about fires in the past, what can you say about the integrity
:40:42. > :40:44.of the building? It is far too early to speculate about the building
:40:45. > :40:47.itself and that will be subject to an investigation in the future.
:40:48. > :40:52.Structurally at the moment it is safe for our crews to be in there
:40:53. > :40:56.working, but I will not comment any further about the building itself.
:40:57. > :40:59.You mentioned fatalities, have we any numbers or updates about
:41:00. > :41:02.fatalities from the incident? No, as you can appreciate it's still very
:41:03. > :41:09.early days on that. We're working closely with our colleagues in the
:41:10. > :41:13.LAS. As soon as numbers become available. You're live on Good
:41:14. > :41:17.Morning Britain. I was told by a fire officer that you only managed
:41:18. > :41:20.to clear the first 12 to 13 floors and anything above that, your fire
:41:21. > :41:24.officers weren't able to go inside the building and put the flames out.
:41:25. > :41:29.Can you give us some detail? We are still working very hardment we
:41:30. > :41:32.rescued large numbers of people from inside the building very early on
:41:33. > :41:39.across a range of different floors. I have spoken to crews who have been
:41:40. > :41:46.up as far as the 19th and 20th floor. We are making steady progress
:41:47. > :41:49.in going through the whole building. INAUDIBLE
:41:50. > :41:52.I am unaware. It is too early to speculate and not appropriate when
:41:53. > :41:58.we are dealing with such a dynamic incident. We have no idea. What we
:41:59. > :42:01.would ask if there are any displaced residents who have not reported
:42:02. > :42:05.themselves to the local rest centre or to the police, please make
:42:06. > :42:08.yourself known so we can check you off against the list of people we
:42:09. > :42:10.believe was in the building. That's very important. Any residents from
:42:11. > :42:14.the building if you have not reported in or told somebody where
:42:15. > :42:18.you are, please do that, it is very important, not only for us to
:42:19. > :42:26.account for, but for your loved ones who are making contact with the rest
:42:27. > :42:30.centres. The three commissioners with a dramatic update on what has
:42:31. > :42:32.been happening in West London. We know there have been fatalities.
:42:33. > :42:36.Several people have been taken to hospital and there are concerns
:42:37. > :42:41.about the integrity of the building itself. We have been hearing from
:42:42. > :42:45.some residents that concerns were raised before today about the
:42:46. > :42:49.structure of the building and whether or not it represented a fire
:42:50. > :42:53.hazard, but the most, the biggest concern now is to to account nor all
:42:54. > :42:58.the residents, to treat the injured and to clear the area because there
:42:59. > :43:04.are concerns about the integrity of the building. Back to you.
:43:05. > :43:11.goal and thank you very much, if you are just tuning in, the London Fire
:43:12. > :43:26.Brigade commissioner of seeing a structural engineer is
:43:27. > :43:33.monitoring the stability of the building but it appears safe for
:43:34. > :43:37.now. One or two residents saying they are of course consumed by the
:43:38. > :43:42.fact people are still being searched for in the building, they are
:43:43. > :43:46.worried about the stability of Grenfell Tower. But as we have just
:43:47. > :43:50.heard, the London Fire Brigade commissioner says a structural
:43:51. > :43:55.engineer is monitoring the stability of the building and it appears safe
:43:56. > :43:59.for now. We are expecting a news conference from the Mayor of London
:44:00. > :44:06.Sadiq Khan, as soon as he starts speaking we will bring it to you. We
:44:07. > :44:11.can talk to the Reverend of Saint Clement 's church which as I
:44:12. > :44:20.understand it is about 300 yards from Grenfell Tower, can you hear me
:44:21. > :44:32.OK? Yeah, can you hear me? I can, thank you for talking to us. Tell us
:44:33. > :44:36.who you are looking after right now? Sorry, the helicopter is directly
:44:37. > :44:40.overhead, could you repeat the question? Tell us about the people
:44:41. > :44:45.you're helping work after at the moment? The Church has been open
:44:46. > :44:50.since about 3am. Hundreds of people have come to the church. Many of
:44:51. > :44:59.them evacuated from housing around the tower and we are also serving as
:45:00. > :45:11.an information point for people who are looking for people. We are
:45:12. > :45:20.operating INAUDIBLE Just round the corner from us but we
:45:21. > :45:26.are helping hundreds of people. Who need a place to rest for the time
:45:27. > :45:33.being. What kind of things are people saying to you about what they
:45:34. > :45:36.witnessed, what they experienced? People obviously acutely distressed.
:45:37. > :45:41.My main effort at this stage has been to provide people with the
:45:42. > :45:49.basic things they need, water, breakfast, tea and coffee. We have
:45:50. > :45:56.been catering, giving them a toilet to go to, there's been a massive
:45:57. > :46:03.community response. People have been bringing in supplies since 3M. It's
:46:04. > :46:04.been largely a question of coordinating this fantastic
:46:05. > :46:19.community response. How long do you think they will be
:46:20. > :46:24.there, do you have any idea? I do not have any idea and do not want to
:46:25. > :46:29.speculate. People had been evacuated from their homes so we have to wait
:46:30. > :46:35.and see when it is safe to return. We are planning for the rest of the
:46:36. > :46:40.day, we'll be providing lunch, supper and if necessary we will also
:46:41. > :46:48.provide people with a place to stay overnight. But we hope it would come
:46:49. > :46:52.to that. Of course. You mentioned the community helping out, I have
:46:53. > :47:00.bumped into allsorts of people, jade carrying a trolley full of water, it
:47:01. > :47:05.had been given to her free, it had been brought down to close where I
:47:06. > :47:09.am broadcasting, I have seen bags of blankets and dressing gowns, people
:47:10. > :47:14.having to leave their homes, some in a state of undress, do you need
:47:15. > :47:21.anything else you are, more provisions? To be honest I think we
:47:22. > :47:25.are, we have more provisions than I ever would have expected, people
:47:26. > :47:29.have been so incredibly generous. I don't want to discourage people from
:47:30. > :47:34.bringing water or maybe blankets, they are always useful, but the
:47:35. > :47:44.community response has been fantastic so far. Thank you very
:47:45. > :47:49.much for talking to us. Saint Clement Church is about 300 jars
:47:50. > :47:58.from Grenfell Tower. This is the emergency number to call if you
:47:59. > :48:02.concern for missing loved ones, 0800 0961 233. We are going to cross to
:48:03. > :48:12.another church not far from where I am, the Latimer community Church,
:48:13. > :48:18.what is happening there? Yes, I think we are about 200 metres
:48:19. > :48:25.INAUDIBLE People have been gathering since 2am
:48:26. > :48:31.INAUDIBLE And had been evacuated from nearby
:48:32. > :48:44.homes. Occasionally when the wind blokes you get big chunks of
:48:45. > :48:50.charcoal falling through the air, this children's maths book was
:48:51. > :48:54.floating through the air INAUDIBLE I'm going to interrupt, I apologise,
:48:55. > :48:58.it's just really difficult to hear you so we are going to try to
:48:59. > :49:08.establish a better line. In the meantime we will talk to Glenda,
:49:09. > :49:14.thank you very much for talking to me, tell us what you saw, what you
:49:15. > :49:18.heard last night? First of all I heard the helicopters which is what
:49:19. > :49:25.woke me up this morning. Then when I came down here I saw the fire going
:49:26. > :49:38.from the bottom of a leap to the top and saw a lot of debris. I was with
:49:39. > :49:43.my daughter, she is a nurse and we went to the pub not too far down and
:49:44. > :49:47.there are quite a few casualties there. Because my daughter is a
:49:48. > :49:53.nurse we were treating some of the casualties. A lot of them had masks
:49:54. > :50:00.because they had inhaled a lot of smoke, those who were actually in
:50:01. > :50:05.the building. Mothers, children, fathers, even an man assisting a
:50:06. > :50:08.little child. At the moment my daughter is in hospital I think
:50:09. > :50:14.because we were standing over here for quite a few hours, she inhaled
:50:15. > :50:19.some smoke so she is at hospital. You can still taste it this morning,
:50:20. > :50:25.it gets to the back of your throat. Thank you so much for talking to us,
:50:26. > :50:31.what did you see last night? We were walking about 1:15am by the sound of
:50:32. > :50:36.screams and sirens, we could hear people screaming for help. Where do
:50:37. > :50:41.you live? I'm staying with relatives in another part of the Lancaster
:50:42. > :50:46.estate, we were about five minutes walk from the tower itself. We could
:50:47. > :50:52.hear helicopters and once we looked out the window and saw the tower was
:50:53. > :50:56.on fire we started to panic, screaming out to the neighbours to
:50:57. > :51:02.wake up and start contacting friends because we know friends of friends
:51:03. > :51:08.and relatives in Grenfell Tower. Did you showed from your building? Yes,
:51:09. > :51:11.just trying to wake up the area and get everyone roused. Ten minutes
:51:12. > :51:16.later we threw on some clothes and went down and got close to the
:51:17. > :51:21.police cordon and stayed there for a few hours just watching. At about
:51:22. > :51:29.quarter past one you said? That is right. How far up the tower had the
:51:30. > :51:34.flames gone? I was taking videos at 130 and it was right from the bottom
:51:35. > :51:37.and straight to the top and moving across the building. The movement of
:51:38. > :51:44.the fire across the building did not take more than half an hour, 1:30
:51:45. > :51:52.AM- 2am. By 2am it was all in flames. That is extraordinary. It
:51:53. > :51:55.was really, really fast. That is something sadly you associate with
:51:56. > :52:02.the slums of the developed world, that speed of fire hold. We were so
:52:03. > :52:06.shocked, we felt like people are going to be killed by this, the
:52:07. > :52:10.feeling we got was that this was a situation which cannot be stopped.
:52:11. > :52:14.Especially as we knew the fire engines which were sent were not
:52:15. > :52:17.sufficient, they could not get close enough because that is a known
:52:18. > :52:23.problem with how these estates are laid out. What do you mean they
:52:24. > :52:26.could not get close enough? There are all these greens which stop car
:52:27. > :52:34.is getting too close to the buildings and where there are
:52:35. > :52:37.pathways they are blocked by pollard 's or have not been updated to allow
:52:38. > :52:40.for the movement of emergency vehicles and it's a big problem.
:52:41. > :52:44.People are unaccounted for in safety plans for a lot of this state. You
:52:45. > :52:50.can see why the greens are here, it breaks up the concrete, it is
:52:51. > :52:55.attractive to look at, green space and so on and so forth but if it
:52:56. > :53:03.stops, if you look at the green behind us, there is a metal fence
:53:04. > :53:06.around it and pollard 's at the end but usually there are keys so they
:53:07. > :53:11.drop in the grounds of vehicles can get through. You would hope so, but
:53:12. > :53:16.these are old roads, not enough has been done to make sure everyone can
:53:17. > :53:22.be saved. There is no fire escape that you can really see, a lot of
:53:23. > :53:28.questions around safety and security for people on this estate. Yeah,
:53:29. > :53:39.Glenda, do you know people who live there? I do. Three of our members
:53:40. > :53:45.live in this tower block so I am concerned. I have also heard there
:53:46. > :53:58.is somebody on the 18th floor who is disabled, housebound. So my concern
:53:59. > :54:02.is how they could have gotten out... This is absolutely... Unbelievable
:54:03. > :54:06.isn't it? My heart really goes out to the people. Even just looking at
:54:07. > :54:09.the building, being told to stay in the building I was wondering to
:54:10. > :54:15.myself how are these people getting out of the building? From that, I
:54:16. > :54:23.knew a lot of people were going to die. If we look at Grenfell Tower
:54:24. > :54:29.now, this is 10am almost, the fire took hold at about 1am, nine hours
:54:30. > :54:37.this tower block is still burning. Viewers might be able to see the
:54:38. > :54:41.water hoses, projected onto the lower half but you can see it still
:54:42. > :54:48.smoking, still burning higher-ups. On the other side, he could still
:54:49. > :54:55.see flames halfway up the tower. You cannot see that on this side. But
:54:56. > :55:02.there are many, many questions you will want answered. Definitely. A
:55:03. > :55:06.lot of questions, how could this possibly happen? Given the wrong
:55:07. > :55:13.information, telling people to stay in the building, not come out of the
:55:14. > :55:19.building. The other side had a chance. Why'd say that? Because the
:55:20. > :55:22.fire started on the side, so they could have gotten out of the
:55:23. > :55:26.building. They were just told to speak to the emergency people, talk
:55:27. > :55:37.to them on the phone whether they can come out. OK. Thank you. Thank
:55:38. > :55:42.you both. We are coming up to 10am, we will bring you the latest, let's
:55:43. > :55:50.talk to our reporter Jean MacKenzie, we could not hear her, what is going
:55:51. > :55:53.on? I have been around 200 metres around the corner that is where
:55:54. > :55:58.people have been evacuated, when they were getting out the tower
:55:59. > :56:02.block this morning and people in the nearby homes, I have been there
:56:03. > :56:05.since 6am and it was quite quiet this morning because everybody was
:56:06. > :56:09.inside in a state of shock and it's in the last couple of hours it
:56:10. > :56:12.started get really busy because everyone is coming to the community
:56:13. > :56:19.centre desperately hoping they can find their loved ones. People in an
:56:20. > :56:24.absolute state of drama and shock. Some mums searching for daughters,
:56:25. > :56:29.44-mac hours, trying all the different community centres and
:56:30. > :56:34.having no luck. I have seen some people arriving at being reunited
:56:35. > :56:37.with children but still people arriving and not knowing whether
:56:38. > :56:45.children are and moving onto next centre. There is such a state of
:56:46. > :56:52.trauma and shock. It's still thick with charcoal, all over the floor
:56:53. > :56:58.and when the wind blows you get it all in the air. What I found a few
:56:59. > :57:02.minutes ago was this sheet from a children's maths book which has come
:57:03. > :57:08.from the tower block. We know there are a lot of children who do live in
:57:09. > :57:13.that block. We spoke to one person in the last half an hour, 14 years
:57:14. > :57:17.of age, goes to the academy right next door to Grenfell Tower and he
:57:18. > :57:24.said a lot of pupils from the Academy live in Grenfell Tower and
:57:25. > :57:29.he did not know some of his friends wear. That is what I have heard as
:57:30. > :57:32.well, people saying children may now are unaccounted for and there is a
:57:33. > :57:37.list on the door of people there which is helping to speed things up,
:57:38. > :57:42.saying they are not here but here are the places you can and work.
:57:43. > :57:45.Someone else volunteering to go to the local hospital to get all the
:57:46. > :57:50.names so they can go and get that and bring that down, trying to help
:57:51. > :57:53.people locate people. In that centre you have people who are really
:57:54. > :57:57.traumatised who are not on the block itself that in the neighbouring
:57:58. > :58:01.places which have been evacuated. I am sure you have been hearing this
:58:02. > :58:06.morning that they have got some of the most horrific stories because
:58:07. > :58:14.they were the ones who were awake at 2am watching it unfold, hearing the
:58:15. > :58:19.screams. One gentleman said he could hear the words saved me, help me,
:58:20. > :58:23.repeated by people further and further up the building. He said to
:58:24. > :58:27.me it is those screams he think will take a long time to be able to get
:58:28. > :58:33.out of his head. Very distressing, thank you.
:58:34. > :58:41.Some, very, very distressing reports here from North Kensington this
:58:42. > :58:47.morning as you would expect. This is BBC News. It's 10am. I'm Victoria
:58:48. > :58:51.Derbyshire. A until of people have died in a massive fire which has
:58:52. > :58:56.torn through a tower block in West London. It is not yet known how many
:58:57. > :59:01.people have lost their lives. We do know that 50 people have been taken
:59:02. > :59:06.to hospital. It was so dark and there was so much
:59:07. > :59:15.smoke. There was people running down the stairs. Some people even had
:59:16. > :59:21.some luggage. There was no alarm or bells whatsoever.
:59:22. > :59:27.Grenfell Tower in North Kensington was built in 1974 and contained 120
:59:28. > :59:31.flats at least. Residents describe the horror as they heard screaming
:59:32. > :59:36.and saw parts of the building crashing to the ground. There was
:59:37. > :59:41.smoke everywhere. Literally everywhere. There was people
:59:42. > :59:47.downstairs and there was bits of the cladding falling off that was on
:59:48. > :59:51.fire and people screaming because obviously people were still sleeping
:59:52. > :59:56.on the higher floors and they didn't have a clue halfs going on. They
:59:57. > :00:00.need to ring 999 and there is a dedicated line for this incident,
:00:01. > :00:04.OK. 200 firefighters have been battling to bring it under control.
:00:05. > :00:10.There are unconfirmed reports that a faulty fridge on the fourth floor
:00:11. > :00:14.could be the cause. In the past half an hour, fire chiefs confirmed the
:00:15. > :00:19.operation is still ongoing. Our firefighters on scene have been
:00:20. > :00:23.working tirelessly and continue to do so to extinguish the fire and
:00:24. > :00:28.search the building for any remaining people inside. We have had
:00:29. > :00:33.at the height over 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines on scene with a
:00:34. > :00:40.range of specialist officers.