:00:00. > :00:00.south, more the breeze further north with further rain in western areas
:00:00. > :00:10.but by Sunday we could see our first 30 degrees day of the so far. You
:00:11. > :00:14.are watching BBC News, you are watching BBC News. A huge blaze has
:00:15. > :00:15.ripped through a tower block killing 12 people with many still
:00:16. > :00:18.unaccounted for. The fire broke out just before
:00:19. > :00:23.1.00am the morning local time - fire crews were on the scene
:00:24. > :00:34.within six minutes. You need to ring 999, there is a
:00:35. > :00:43.dedicated line for this incident. The fire was still
:00:44. > :00:45.raging as dawn broke. It's feared many are
:00:46. > :00:47.still unaccounted for. The London Fire Brigade desperately
:00:48. > :00:49.struggled to reach the upper floors, but were repelled by the heat
:00:50. > :01:14.and falling debris. This is a completely unprecedented
:01:15. > :01:17.fire. In my 29 years in the London Fire Brigade I have never seen a
:01:18. > :01:24.fire of this nature and I have seen many high-rise fires.
:01:25. > :01:27.Around 70 people are being treated in six London hospitals, 18 of them
:01:28. > :01:31.In the US, a gunman opens fire on Republican members
:01:32. > :01:33.of Congress during a baseball practice in Virginia.
:01:34. > :01:39.The attacker is killed by police officers.
:01:40. > :01:47.We are united in our shock. We are united in our anguish. An attack on
:01:48. > :02:10.one of us is an attack on all others. -- of us.
:02:11. > :02:23.21 hours after this fire started in Grunfeld tower, the fire is still
:02:24. > :02:33.blazing. The Fire Service had been working tirelessly to put the fire
:02:34. > :02:37.out. They have managed to get a hydraulic crane imposition and they
:02:38. > :02:41.are firing water remotely into the upper floors of the apartment block,
:02:42. > :02:46.but the state of it at the moment, this wreckage of a building tells
:02:47. > :02:50.you it will take them some time to get in there and fully account for
:02:51. > :02:52.the people that are missing. Let me remind you of where this apartment
:02:53. > :03:00.block is in relation to west London. Grenfell Tower is part of a social
:03:01. > :03:03.housing complex of nearly 1,000 homes near the Westfield shopping
:03:04. > :03:05.centre in West London. Our Home Editor Mark Easton now
:03:06. > :03:07.reports and a warning, there are distressing images,
:03:08. > :03:10.from the start of his piece. It is a tragedy that plays
:03:11. > :03:22.to our darkest fears. The fire started
:03:23. > :03:24.between midnight and 1am. The screams from the flats
:03:25. > :03:27.and the acrid smell of burning, It was just people
:03:28. > :03:30.jumping out, literally. And putting sheets down
:03:31. > :03:34.to try to get out of the building. Windows exploding, big,
:03:35. > :03:37.massive pieces of debris We came here, saw
:03:38. > :03:47.people jumping off. People had jumped off
:03:48. > :03:53.because they had no other option. Someone was on fire
:03:54. > :03:58.and he jumped too. Some people picked up their children
:03:59. > :04:02.and threw them out for the police to pick them up because there was no
:04:03. > :04:05.other way out of the building. I saw kids at the window shouting,
:04:06. > :04:10.help me, help me, I can't breathe. And all these people have lost
:04:11. > :04:14.people in their lives and I know The fire raced through the 24 storey
:04:15. > :04:26.council block in this deprived part On the seventh floor,
:04:27. > :04:30.this family were led to safety when a fire officer made it up
:04:31. > :04:32.to their flat. There was smoke everywhere,
:04:33. > :04:39.people screaming. There was a fireman there
:04:40. > :04:45.going, get out, get out. I ran back in in my boxer shorts,
:04:46. > :04:48.grabbed the little girl, put her under my dressing gown
:04:49. > :04:52.to cover her face from the smoke, got my girlfriend up, running down,
:04:53. > :04:54.got to the fourth floor With dawn, grim, is expected news,
:04:55. > :05:05.that lives have been lost. Many people, numb with shock,
:05:06. > :05:10.frantically searched to find missing This woman's sister and 12-year-old
:05:11. > :05:13.nephew were unaccounted for. As well as the smoke
:05:14. > :05:30.and the smell of burning, numb, shock and tension
:05:31. > :05:33.hangs over this area. In the 21st century,
:05:34. > :05:36.in a country with some of the strictest fire regulations
:05:37. > :05:38.in the world, a desperate tragedy Well into the morning,
:05:39. > :05:53.the crowds watching the horror unfolding in front of them reported
:05:54. > :05:55.seeing people still A man was eventually brought out
:05:56. > :06:11.by the emergency services at noon. This off-duty nurse helped tend
:06:12. > :06:14.to some of the injured I have seen some
:06:15. > :06:19.things, but today... There are mothers that have come out
:06:20. > :06:27.and lost their children. There are firefighters that
:06:28. > :06:30.have come out injured. We don't know if they are even
:06:31. > :06:33.going to come out safe. People have lost their homes,
:06:34. > :06:35.children have seen things, We just need to rebuild
:06:36. > :06:50.as a community now. This is a neighbourhood
:06:51. > :06:52.that feels ignored. We have a number of high-rise
:06:53. > :06:58.buildings here and in We do have to meet stringent safety
:06:59. > :07:02.standards, and in a refurbishment there will be a thorough inspection
:07:03. > :07:05.by the fire authorities. It clearly hasn't,
:07:06. > :07:08.we will have to get the bottom The Mayor of London promised
:07:09. > :07:12.there will be a thorough and independent investigation
:07:13. > :07:15.into what happened. My thoughts and prayers,
:07:16. > :07:18.as I am sure the thoughts and prayers the entire country,
:07:19. > :07:21.with the family and friends of those in the building and affected
:07:22. > :07:24.by this and horrific fire. I would also pay tribute
:07:25. > :07:26.to the amazing emergency services, from the Fire Service,
:07:27. > :07:34.we have more than 250 firefighters, many of whom have been
:07:35. > :07:39.here since the beginning. The streets of North Kensington
:07:40. > :07:42.are littered with ashes. The charred ashes of
:07:43. > :07:47.homework of a school child. But the neighbourhood is also
:07:48. > :08:11.scarred by grief that will not We must prepare ourselves for the
:08:12. > :08:16.eventuality that the death toll will rise. It is 12 at the moment but
:08:17. > :08:19.they haven't been able to search all of the upper floors of this
:08:20. > :08:24.apartment block and there are many people missing and accounted for. We
:08:25. > :08:34.must be prepared for that. Let me introduce you to Chris Myers. He is
:08:35. > :08:39.a forensic architect. My specialist areas in is looking into how things
:08:40. > :08:44.go wrong in buildings, and stop them going wrong. In the case of a fire I
:08:45. > :08:49.would often be involved after the fire, understanding what happened,
:08:50. > :08:53.how was it constricted and design. Looking at some of the remnants we
:08:54. > :08:57.have, looking at the drawings and working out why it was the fire
:08:58. > :09:02.occurred and spread in the way it did. With the necessary caveats, we
:09:03. > :09:06.cannot jump to conclusions because we do not know the whole story, but
:09:07. > :09:17.if you were to cast your professional eye on that, what would
:09:18. > :09:20.you say happened? Firstly, I am surprised to see the extent of the
:09:21. > :09:23.fire, how widely it burned through the building and as I understand it,
:09:24. > :09:28.rapidly as well. We would expect to see less fire spread and that allows
:09:29. > :09:32.the Fire Brigade to attend and bring it under control before it spread so
:09:33. > :09:37.widely round the building. We need to understand how it was built and
:09:38. > :09:42.constructed to the exterior. We have seen how that burned. But we should
:09:43. > :09:46.not forget about the interior. Because the spread of smoke within
:09:47. > :09:50.the building can be very damaging and ultimately fatal to people as
:09:51. > :09:58.well. So if smoke escapes through corridors and escapes staircases,
:09:59. > :10:01.that can put people at risk. We have become amateur experts on rainproof
:10:02. > :10:07.cladding. There were incidents in Dubai earlier in the year at a hotel
:10:08. > :10:14.where this cladding proved to be a problem. What went wrong there? We
:10:15. > :10:20.have not yet seen the full forensic report on the address in Dubai. The
:10:21. > :10:24.cladding there was a different type of cladding from that which is
:10:25. > :10:30.permitted here. It was a more compost above cladding with a higher
:10:31. > :10:35.risk of burned. That was permitted in Dubai and the UAE up until 2012,
:10:36. > :10:45.so the older stock there had a higher risk of burning. What you see
:10:46. > :10:49.on the outside is a three layer sandwich with two layers of
:10:50. > :10:53.aluminium and then it is the call between the layers of aluminium
:10:54. > :10:58.which is critical in terms of fire resistance. But what we see on the
:10:59. > :11:02.outside is part of the external cladding system. So behind that we
:11:03. > :11:13.have a void which is normally ventilated and then insulation as
:11:14. > :11:19.well. Does it work like a flue? That is the risk. If it doesn't work
:11:20. > :11:25.behind the cladding, we could have a chimney, in fact. Which is why we
:11:26. > :11:30.saw, in the space of half an hour, we saw the smoke and flames leaping
:11:31. > :11:35.from one floor to another. If you take these cladding systems, if the
:11:36. > :11:40.horizontal subdivision is not installed, the fire can spread
:11:41. > :11:45.quickly behind the facade, so it is behind the cladding and breaking out
:11:46. > :11:50.higher up the building. But we are speculating because we don't know
:11:51. > :11:53.fully. The point about the state put instruction that exists in a
:11:54. > :11:57.building like this where residents are supposed to stay in their
:11:58. > :12:02.apartment blocks, is because those units are supposed to be fireproof
:12:03. > :12:05.for an hour. That certainly didn't happen? We will have to look at the
:12:06. > :12:10.reports, but that is certainly the case. We have to look at fire and
:12:11. > :12:15.smoke, because the people may have been affected by smoke as much as
:12:16. > :12:24.fire. They should be fireproof, they have fire resistant construction and
:12:25. > :12:29.fireproof doors. As well as staying put you have a protected means of
:12:30. > :12:34.escape. Once you are in the corridor and the escape stairs, you should be
:12:35. > :12:40.in a place of safety. Somebody told me that if this building had been
:12:41. > :12:44.built three years earlier, it might have collapsed. They changed the
:12:45. > :12:50.building structures in the 1970s after a similar incident, so how is
:12:51. > :12:56.this building difference? This building was built in 1974 and the
:12:57. > :12:59.regulations changed in order to allow for the sacrificial element in
:13:00. > :13:05.the structure. The structure is designed to accommodate this. Having
:13:06. > :13:08.said that, I would expect as part of the investigation, the structure in
:13:09. > :13:12.this building will have to be carefully reviewed to see if it can
:13:13. > :13:17.still withstand the loads required because the fire may have affected
:13:18. > :13:27.the steel? Surely they will have to demolish it? It is a wreck on the
:13:28. > :13:31.outside, I cannot say for certain. Spare a thought this evening for
:13:32. > :13:34.those hundreds of people who have lost everything, their worldly
:13:35. > :13:38.possessions and they don't have a place to stay in the weeks ahead.
:13:39. > :13:41.They will have some emergency accommodation the night, but they
:13:42. > :13:45.will have to plan in the days and weeks ahead and it will be
:13:46. > :13:50.difficult, bearing in mind what they have been to. Many are being put up
:13:51. > :13:54.at community centres, churches and mosques around this area. Lucy
:13:55. > :13:56.Manning has been taking a look at that and meeting the people
:13:57. > :14:02.searching for their loved ones. The air was punctuated
:14:03. > :14:05.with the sound of crying. They gathered outside
:14:06. > :14:11.the community centre. The one thing nobody
:14:12. > :14:15.could offer was good news. For this family, it was,
:14:16. > :14:20.understandably, to much. My mum, my sister, her
:14:21. > :14:23.daughters and husband. I don't know if they are out,
:14:24. > :14:33.we don't have any information. Susan gave us this picture
:14:34. > :14:42.of her three smiling neices. You haven't been able
:14:43. > :14:52.to contact them? I phoned my sister when she was in,
:14:53. > :14:56.all I could hear was screaming. I was trying to tell her, get out,
:14:57. > :14:59.get to the nearest fire exit. The police officers heard me
:15:00. > :15:07.shouting on the phone. I really just wanted to go in there,
:15:08. > :15:10.basically, do something. In the last hour, she heard news
:15:11. > :15:20.that someone might have After the panic of the night,
:15:21. > :15:30.the day brought only silence. I haven't seen my brother-in-law,
:15:31. > :15:36.his wife and three children. The children are aged
:15:37. > :15:39.20, the boy is 20. He spoke to them
:15:40. > :15:48.as they were trapped. She said her husband was talking
:15:49. > :15:56.to the emergency people. They said, they are coming
:15:57. > :15:59.to get us, but the heat I said, get a wet blanket,
:16:00. > :16:06.put the kids on the floor She said, we can't do it,
:16:07. > :16:11.because the smoke is killing us, The smoke is coming
:16:12. > :16:14.through the doors. She is keeping covering
:16:15. > :16:17.it, but it is heavy. That was the last time
:16:18. > :16:21.we have heard from her. For those on the lower floors
:16:22. > :16:24.that did make it out, I woke up at about 12.45, hearing,
:16:25. > :16:31.help me, a woman screaming, my baby, The police were knocking
:16:32. > :16:51.on the doors, evacuate, evacuate. We felt we had to get the hell out
:16:52. > :16:54.of here, it is going up. Ed was saved by his friend calling
:16:55. > :16:57.him and telling him to leave. The smoke was so thick,
:16:58. > :17:00.you couldn't see anything. I got three quarters of the way
:17:01. > :17:03.and then I was using my hands I began thinking to myself,
:17:04. > :17:08.this is going to be me, you know? I'm going to die
:17:09. > :17:11.of smoke inhalation. There was actually a fireman
:17:12. > :17:14.lying on the ground. He just touched my foot and led me
:17:15. > :17:24.to where the fire exit was. Ed was instrumental in raising
:17:25. > :17:27.concerns about the safety This accident never
:17:28. > :17:34.needed to happen. If people listened to
:17:35. > :17:41.what we were saying, what the blog was saying,
:17:42. > :17:43.what members of the Inside the centre, those
:17:44. > :17:48.waiting for news or have lost their homes are gathered
:17:49. > :17:52.downstairs in the hall. As you can imagine, it is a fairly
:17:53. > :17:58.distressing situation. At times, people are sobbing
:17:59. > :18:01.as they wait for news. News that, at this stage,
:18:02. > :18:04.will possibly not be good news. They are getting help with housing,
:18:05. > :18:12.with food, and the medical help. Now, it is not just the burnt-out
:18:13. > :18:24.building that looms over this community, but the fear
:18:25. > :18:40.that they will hear that many more The fire investigation will begin in
:18:41. > :18:46.earnest and they will look at where the fire began and write it spread
:18:47. > :18:50.so quickly. Plenty of anger in this community. Theresa May has promised
:18:51. > :18:52.a full investigation and were lessons need to be learned, they
:18:53. > :19:02.will be learned. I have just received the latest
:19:03. > :19:05.update. 12 people have been confirmed dead in this terrible fire
:19:06. > :19:10.that has taken place and sadly the police expect that number to rise
:19:11. > :19:13.further. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and all of
:19:14. > :19:16.those who have had their homes destroyed. It is impossible to
:19:17. > :19:21.comprehend the horror of what they have been going through. The
:19:22. > :19:25.response of people living nearby who have provided help, compassion and
:19:26. > :19:33.support has shown the fantastic spirit of London. Earlier today I
:19:34. > :19:36.ordered a cross government meeting to manage the emergency service
:19:37. > :19:41.response and back group will meet again tomorrow. Once again, our
:19:42. > :19:46.emergency services, our Fire Service, ambulance, NHS and police
:19:47. > :19:49.have shown incredibly bravery working in appalling conditions. In
:19:50. > :19:53.their work will continue for some time and everybody will want to join
:19:54. > :19:59.me in thanking them for their amazing bravery. Many people will be
:20:00. > :20:02.working round-the-clock in the NHS to treat those who have been injured
:20:03. > :20:07.and working elsewhere to provide help and support to those who have
:20:08. > :20:12.no home to home to return to. Of course, once the scene is secure,
:20:13. > :20:16.once the recovery is complete, then an investigation will take place
:20:17. > :20:22.into the cause of the fire and if there are any lessons to be learned.
:20:23. > :20:25.Until then, our focus must be on ensuring the emergency services have
:20:26. > :20:29.what they need to continue with their harrowing work and that help
:20:30. > :20:31.and support is being provided to all those who have suffered as a result
:20:32. > :20:42.of this tragedy. Prime Minister, Theresa May speaking
:20:43. > :20:44.a short time ago. Let's remind ourselves how events the day.
:20:45. > :20:46.Let's cross to Ros Atkins in our central London studio
:20:47. > :20:49.for a closer look at what we know about the cause
:20:50. > :20:58.Let's find out what we know about the tower. It is in North Kensington
:20:59. > :21:05.in the west of London. You can see that next door to the tower are a
:21:06. > :21:10.number of football pitches, and number of other residential
:21:11. > :21:15.properties as well. The first time emergency services knew about this
:21:16. > :21:20.fire was via a telephone call at just before 1am but the situation
:21:21. > :21:25.was escalating and the entire building became engulfed in flames
:21:26. > :21:29.very quickly. It has raised concerns about the structure of this tower.
:21:30. > :21:33.This is an architectural design of the building. We have marked the
:21:34. > :21:40.fourth floor in green because that is where it is believed the fire
:21:41. > :21:48.originated. We note 20 stories are residential. Each floor typically
:21:49. > :21:53.has six flats. Making 120 in the building in total. We know these
:21:54. > :21:57.Council flats are managed by the Kensington and Chelsea tenant
:21:58. > :22:00.management organisation. They act on behalf of the Royal Borough of
:22:01. > :22:08.Kensington and Chelsea. We note the borough funded refurbishments to the
:22:09. > :22:14.cost of ?10 million. He is a council are talking about that. It has been
:22:15. > :22:17.recently refurbished and clad. They replaced the kitchens and the
:22:18. > :22:22.heating system. I would have thought it would have been the safest tower
:22:23. > :22:27.block in the borough. We have had fires in tower blocks before, but
:22:28. > :22:30.nothing like this. You heard about the council are talking about new
:22:31. > :22:34.cladding and there is a lot of attention on this cladding and it
:22:35. > :22:40.may have contributed to the speed at which the fire spread. This building
:22:41. > :22:45.did not burn as experts would have expected it to. One expert speaking
:22:46. > :22:49.to the BBC saying they didn't perform in the way you expect the
:22:50. > :22:52.building to perform. The expected to be contained to an individual
:22:53. > :22:57.department, but something has gone dramatically wrong.
:22:58. > :23:10.We have heard from the company who carried out these building works. We
:23:11. > :23:14.know several months ago, residents raised the latest in a long line of
:23:15. > :23:21.safety concerns they had about living in this building. This is a
:23:22. > :23:24.blog post from November 2016 written by the Grenfell action group and it
:23:25. > :23:29.raises specific spire safety concerns and accuses the landlord of
:23:30. > :23:35.the tower, the same management organisation I mentioned a little
:23:36. > :23:39.while ago, and it signs off by saying the action group predicts it
:23:40. > :23:44.won't be long before the words of this post come back to haunt the
:23:45. > :23:51.management. Here is a former member of that group speaking earlier. So
:23:52. > :23:55.many concerns, concerns about the locations of heat interface units.
:23:56. > :24:00.Concerns about escaping and getting in and out. Concerns about lighting.
:24:01. > :24:07.I have heard the fire alarms did not go off in the building. To tell you,
:24:08. > :24:13.I wasn't surprised. Shocked, terrified, all the people living
:24:14. > :24:17.here, but not surprised. This is fire action advise in Grenfell
:24:18. > :24:21.Tower. It is posted all over the building. It tells residents there
:24:22. > :24:27.is a state put policy unless the fire is in or affecting your flat.
:24:28. > :24:32.If there is a fire within the tower, unless it is immediately affecting
:24:33. > :24:38.your situation, stayed put. It is a policy applied to many tower blocks
:24:39. > :24:42.in the UK since the 1950s. It is based on the assumption when we had
:24:43. > :24:46.the fire experts talking a moment ago, if a fire does begin it can be
:24:47. > :24:50.contained in its place of origin within the building. Evidently and
:24:51. > :24:55.tragically, that didn't happen last night. And the role this advice
:24:56. > :25:00.played in the loss of life, along with many other policies and
:25:01. > :25:04.decisions that have led up to this fire, Christian, are certainly to be
:25:05. > :25:12.urgently reviewed in the coming days, weeks and months.
:25:13. > :25:17.The light is starting to fade here in West London. As it does, we can
:25:18. > :25:23.see the fire is still burning. Six or seven floors down from the top of
:25:24. > :25:27.the building. Some quite fierce fires still burning. Obviously under
:25:28. > :25:31.control now, not raging in the way they were earlier in the day, but
:25:32. > :25:35.there are pockets in the building that firefighters, the men and women
:25:36. > :25:39.who have been tackling those blazers, won't be able to reach. I
:25:40. > :25:45.did say they have got a hydraulic crane in place next to the tower and
:25:46. > :25:50.they firing water into pockets of the building to try and dampen down
:25:51. > :25:53.those flames. It is a treacherous environment for the firefighters
:25:54. > :25:57.because there is all manner of debris and masonry falling off this
:25:58. > :26:00.building, as there has been throughout the day. We saw
:26:01. > :26:05.firefighters going into the area around the building with plastic
:26:06. > :26:09.shields over their heads. Let's talk about the building itself. It is
:26:10. > :26:19.still standing and it is, we believe, structurally secure. Why
:26:20. > :26:24.might that be? Let's talk to a civil engineer. I did mention earlier, had
:26:25. > :26:29.this building being constructed a few years earlier, it might not
:26:30. > :26:33.still be standing? That is correct. What happened, the Roman point
:26:34. > :26:38.collapse, a partial collapse of one corner of a building, all of the
:26:39. > :26:44.kitchens in one corner collapse because of an explosion in one
:26:45. > :26:49.kitchen. Although each element of the building was strong enough, they
:26:50. > :26:54.weren't properly connected together. It was almost like a pack of cards.
:26:55. > :26:58.So one incident in one apartment was always going to run the risk of
:26:59. > :27:03.building the whole building down. After that, building regulations
:27:04. > :27:08.were changed and by 1971, we had introduced systems of putting ties
:27:09. > :27:13.through the building, from top to bottom and across each floor in two
:27:14. > :27:17.directions and then peripheral ties running round the building, to tie
:27:18. > :27:20.the whole thing together so that should there be an issue at one
:27:21. > :27:24.place in the building, it wasn't going to affect anywhere else. And
:27:25. > :27:32.that is why the building hasn't collapsed in the way the twin towers
:27:33. > :27:36.did in 9/11 collapsed. Just to be clear, this block of flats you were
:27:37. > :27:41.talking about, it was a block of flats back court fire in East London
:27:42. > :27:49.in 1968. After that, they change the regulations? Yes, and it took three
:27:50. > :27:54.years, until 1971 to get those regulations in force. This block was
:27:55. > :27:59.built in 1974, so we presume it complied with those more robust
:28:00. > :28:03.building regulations. We had Chris Myers, a forensic architect a few
:28:04. > :28:08.minutes ago. He said he wasn't aware of what the structural integrity of
:28:09. > :28:12.the building is at the moment, but maybe it won't have to be pulled
:28:13. > :28:18.down. I presumed it would be demolished. Is that not the case? I
:28:19. > :28:22.would be astonished if it wasn't demolished. The cost of refurbishing
:28:23. > :28:29.that building would be greater than the cost of demolition and starting
:28:30. > :28:32.again. OK. We are looking at some of the fire is still burning on the
:28:33. > :28:36.upper floors this evening, is there anything about the construction of
:28:37. > :28:42.the building that concentrates the fire in the centre of the building
:28:43. > :28:46.and keeps it burning so long? Not really, I think what has happened
:28:47. > :28:50.here, something unusual in that I think the fire seems to have started
:28:51. > :28:56.around the perimeter of the building. From the fourth floor,
:28:57. > :29:00.initial explosion, the fire spread very, very rapidly. It cannot do
:29:01. > :29:05.that really through the building, because as we said earlier, each of
:29:06. > :29:10.the apartments has won our fire resistance. So if a fire was going
:29:11. > :29:15.to rise through 20 stories, it is essentially going to take 20 hours.
:29:16. > :29:20.That didn't happen. And I think the reason it didn't happen was the fire
:29:21. > :29:24.spread of the external walls of the building and the reason it is
:29:25. > :29:30.burning now internally is because I think the original fire burned away
:29:31. > :29:34.all the parts of the building near its perimeter and it progressively
:29:35. > :29:41.spread towards the poor of the building, where it is now burning.
:29:42. > :29:47.Thank you very much, very interesting. There are a lot of
:29:48. > :29:52.people looking back historically at these fires in high-rise flats.
:29:53. > :29:55.There was one in Camberwell and we hoped lessons would be learned from
:29:56. > :29:59.that and people have been asking questions whether there was a
:30:00. > :30:02.sufficient review. David Shipman has been taking a look at some of these
:30:03. > :30:05.historical incidents and whether lessons should have been learned.
:30:06. > :30:07.The wreckage of Grenfell House stands amid a cluster
:30:08. > :30:10.Like many cities around the world, London has seen
:30:11. > :30:14.Homes and offices, perched high above street level,
:30:15. > :30:19.with a host of safety rules designed to resist fire.
:30:20. > :30:22.But eight years ago, a blaze at this tower block in south
:30:23. > :30:27.Southwark Council was fined for breaching fire regulations.
:30:28. > :30:30.And there are plenty of expert voices today saying
:30:31. > :30:32.that the lessons of what happened here at Lakanal House
:30:33. > :30:36.Lakanal House demonstrated that people were at risk
:30:37. > :30:40.The fire in west London last night, this morning, as demonstrated
:30:41. > :30:43.that they are still at risk in their own homes.
:30:44. > :30:47.These fires shouldn't be happening in 21st-century London.
:30:48. > :30:52.We've got the ability to stop them from happening,
:30:53. > :30:54.and when fires do break out, to restrict them to small areas
:30:55. > :30:59.One key question in the spotlight today is about the design of tower
:31:00. > :31:01.blocks, and how they are meant to keep people safe
:31:02. > :31:07.Normally, a fire hose can only reach about 15 metres.
:31:08. > :31:10.Grenfell Tower stands 67 metres high.
:31:11. > :31:14.In America, they rely on what is called "active safety".
:31:15. > :31:17.Sprinklers fight fires in every room, but that can be expensive.
:31:18. > :31:20.The basic principle here, until recently, has been passive
:31:21. > :31:22.safety, designing the building to confine any blaze
:31:23. > :31:31.Another focus will be on the cladding fitted
:31:32. > :31:34.to the outside of the building panels to improve insulation
:31:35. > :31:37.and the look of older buildings like Grenfell Tower.
:31:38. > :31:42.But dozens of fires have been linked to cladding around the world.
:31:43. > :31:45.Two years ago, a skyscraper in Dubai caught fire,
:31:46. > :31:50.New rules there have tightened up on the kind
:31:51. > :31:58.Investigators here will explore what role the cladding might have played.
:31:59. > :32:02.In the UK, it has to be what we call of limited combustibility.
:32:03. > :32:05.I am sure that is going to be questioned now, after this fire.
:32:06. > :32:07.What exactly that means, and what these types of cladding
:32:08. > :32:14.systems are adding to the fire load on the building.
:32:15. > :32:17.It was after the Second World War that councils and said
:32:18. > :32:20.by moving away from old terraced homes coming to new
:32:21. > :32:28.But their safety from fire depends on good design and care for.
:32:29. > :32:31.London mayor says people living in tower blocks will now
:32:32. > :32:33.need to be reassured, and fire professionals are shocked
:32:34. > :32:37.Literally every single floor was on fire, internally.
:32:38. > :32:44.You see one floor, two floors, and then a hopping
:32:45. > :32:47.from floor to floor, maybe, over a period of time.
:32:48. > :32:50.You would not normally see an entire facade on fire,
:32:51. > :32:53.then all of the interior on fire at the same time.
:32:54. > :32:58.So, the fire overcame whatever safety features were in place.
:32:59. > :33:01.Last year, the Government promised a review into fire
:33:02. > :33:04.safety in tower blocks, but then delayed it.
:33:05. > :33:07.This disaster now makes that work a priority.
:33:08. > :33:26.We can speak to Baroness Jenny Jones who wrote a report on the state of
:33:27. > :33:32.social housing in 2010. I understand you did look into this fire in an
:33:33. > :33:36.apartment block in Camberwell in 2009, what do you think we learned
:33:37. > :33:42.from that and Steve think we did come lessons were applied over the
:33:43. > :33:46.last few years, having missed something? The fire was that Lakmal
:33:47. > :33:51.house which was a few yards from where I lived and so I took an
:33:52. > :33:56.extreme interest and the London assembly looked at the fire and had
:33:57. > :34:02.lots of evidence and what we found was it was the fire risk assessment
:34:03. > :34:05.that was so lacking in so many places, not just there but in other
:34:06. > :34:10.buildings and high-rise buildings over London. Something like one in
:34:11. > :34:16.five was inadequate and the fire risk assessments are crucial because
:34:17. > :34:20.they dictate how you convey the risk and safety measures to the tenants.
:34:21. > :34:28.What we found was the advice given by the councils and by the assessors
:34:29. > :34:36.but also the examinations and investigations by the assessors were
:34:37. > :34:41.all often inadequate. Was there something in that report that we had
:34:42. > :34:48.in 2009 that might apply to what we have seen here with Grenfell Tower?
:34:49. > :34:51.Well, there were two big recommendations, we made several to
:34:52. > :34:56.the Department for Communities and Local Government but the two big
:34:57. > :35:01.ones where they should give national guidance to all owners of tower
:35:02. > :35:05.blocks so they could do the right sort of fire risk assessments and
:35:06. > :35:08.take everything into account and the other big recommendation was that
:35:09. > :35:14.all social landlords should publish a register of their fire risks, what
:35:15. > :35:17.we found again and again was the information was not getting through
:35:18. > :35:23.to tenants, there is often a big turnover in his tower blocks of
:35:24. > :35:26.people and if you do not give every single new president enough
:35:27. > :35:29.information then it is likely they will not know what to do in the
:35:30. > :35:37.event of a fire. Essentially, the fire risk safety recommendations we
:35:38. > :35:43.made have never been implemented except by individual councils that
:35:44. > :35:46.chose to do it. There has been strong words from the Grunfeld tower
:35:47. > :35:52.action group in one of their blogs saying they were treated like vermin
:35:53. > :35:56.by the tenant management organisation. Do you think the
:35:57. > :36:02.social housing stock in London is of the right quality and does the need
:36:03. > :36:07.to be big improvements? I live in an ex-local authority block myself and
:36:08. > :36:10.I think it is superb so of course there are some buildings that are
:36:11. > :36:15.not going to come up to safety standards but in London we
:36:16. > :36:19.absolutely need social housing, we are not building enough and the
:36:20. > :36:24.thought that people do not feel safe in them is fairly horrendous. I
:36:25. > :36:27.think that there has to be a public enquiry now, I hate recommended
:36:28. > :36:32.public enquiries, they say take man, they are expensive but there is no
:36:33. > :36:42.choice here because we never want to see this again. No, indeed. Thank
:36:43. > :36:46.you very much for being with us. 12 people are confirmed to have been
:36:47. > :36:51.killed but the police are warning that the death toll may well rise.
:36:52. > :37:09.The BBC has confirmed the identities of six of the missing.
:37:10. > :37:23.HE READS LIST OF NAMES There are another six and it is entirely
:37:24. > :37:28.possible that the death toll will rise as the police are warning. The
:37:29. > :37:48.London Ambulance Service took over 60 people at hospital.
:37:49. > :37:55.Paramedics, trauma teams and the London ambulance were all involved
:37:56. > :38:00.in a highly coordinated response. The key was to stabilise patients
:38:01. > :38:06.and get them to one of six hospitals where specialist teams were on stand
:38:07. > :38:11.by. At St Marys we are caring for 16 patients, three of whom are in
:38:12. > :38:14.critical condition. At Charing Cross Hospital we have four patients none
:38:15. > :38:18.of whom are critical. We are continuing to care for patients who
:38:19. > :38:24.are primarily suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.
:38:25. > :38:28.Inhaling smoke can damage the lungs and airways and may also cause
:38:29. > :38:33.carbon monoxide poisoning. Specialist burns teams were on stand
:38:34. > :38:41.by but it is understood they did not treat any casualties. 12 hours after
:38:42. > :38:45.it broke out, a toxic cloud was still billowing from Grenfell Tower
:38:46. > :38:56.leading to concerned residents handing out facemasks donated by
:38:57. > :39:02.local firms. There are toxic substances in the building that we
:39:03. > :39:08.aware of. And everywhere you look in the surrounding area, these black
:39:09. > :39:11.suttee fragments. This children's playground is littered with pieces
:39:12. > :39:16.of debris which floated down from the building and are pieces of
:39:17. > :39:24.installation from the outside of the tower block and you can taste the
:39:25. > :39:29.soot at the back of your throat. Everyone's main concern is for the
:39:30. > :39:35.residents of Grenfell Tower. But there are worries to for those
:39:36. > :39:40.living nearby. We found it hard to breathe and it felt like tasting the
:39:41. > :39:48.smoke so do not know the effect on our lungs. We have elderly
:39:49. > :39:53.vulnerable residents, people with severe disabilities, little children
:39:54. > :39:56.as well, under five. St Mary's and Charing Cross hospitals say the
:39:57. > :40:02.Accident and Emergency departments remain very busy and ask the public
:40:03. > :40:06.to use walk-in centres or their GP unless it is an emergency. Allowing
:40:07. > :40:11.them to focus on those injured in this appalling tragedy.
:40:12. > :40:14.Within just a few hours of the fire breaking out -
:40:15. > :40:17.people were arriving at the shelters that have been set up
:40:18. > :40:25.here in churches, sports and community centres.
:40:26. > :40:30.Some people in the stairwell in their dressing gowns and boxer
:40:31. > :40:33.shorts, no clothes, lost their worldly possessions and what is
:40:34. > :40:36.extraordinary is that the people from the community have pulled
:40:37. > :40:40.together through the day, people going through the course with bags
:40:41. > :40:44.of shopping, toothbrushes, toiletries and food and water,
:40:45. > :40:49.anything they can supply to help. And also facemasks because up until
:40:50. > :40:52.the last few hours the smoke in the air was pretty acrid and difficult
:40:53. > :41:04.to move around without filling it in the back of your throat.
:41:05. > :41:10.They have been overwhelmed with donations. Today we have bought the
:41:11. > :41:13.phone chargers and we have given people the phone chargers to help
:41:14. > :41:17.them call loved ones and to make sure they are safe and everyone
:41:18. > :41:24.knows where everybody is. We have also donated some money, to
:41:25. > :41:29.families, Darren withdraw ?1000 out of his account and we have been
:41:30. > :41:34.giving families ?100 to see them over the next couple of days. It is
:41:35. > :41:38.amazing how I've run has come out in the community, people will stick
:41:39. > :41:44.together in a time like this. And how caring people are. This hall is
:41:45. > :41:47.full of provisions from shoes to toiletries, people are sharing their
:41:48. > :41:54.homes and others are offering their time. I see that Londoners together
:41:55. > :42:03.and regardless of your background, I am from Brazil, everybody got
:42:04. > :42:12.together, and amazing feeling. This hall is full of clothes, baby stuff
:42:13. > :42:15.and food and water it is amazing. On another corner, just moments away
:42:16. > :42:17.from where people have lost their lives, and others all their
:42:18. > :42:25.possessions, there are more supplies. Bedding, headscarves,
:42:26. > :42:34.toiletries, everything you can think of that people might want. This is
:42:35. > :42:39.food, texts are coming in, new centres are opening where people can
:42:40. > :42:45.take donations. I happened to be nearby. I have a seven-year-old
:42:46. > :42:52.daughter and I took her to school and on that road there was a clear
:42:53. > :42:57.view of the tower and what was going on and the fire was really going at
:42:58. > :43:00.that point early in the morning and she understands what is going on and
:43:01. > :43:06.so after school we came by here and she went to help low donations from
:43:07. > :43:12.this box into the van taking them on to the shelters. This is an area
:43:13. > :43:17.where there is wealth and those who have very little. People from all
:43:18. > :43:22.backgrounds trying to do their best. This community is strong, it is not
:43:23. > :43:25.about rich and poor, you see people with suits and people with
:43:26. > :43:29.tracksuits just helping and doing what they can do. There are also
:43:30. > :43:43.people here from different castes and colours. Yeah, we from the sea
:43:44. > :43:47.community are doing our best make sure there is WaterAid. Such has
:43:48. > :43:51.been the response centres in North Kensington say they now enough
:43:52. > :43:52.supplies but for those who have lost everything, the need has only just
:43:53. > :44:01.begun. Incredibly difficult day for the
:44:02. > :44:05.firefighters here, the men and women who have been here out of the
:44:06. > :44:09.building, it has been hot here in London and have worked tirelessly to
:44:10. > :44:12.put out fires in a building although tonight you can see behind me there
:44:13. > :44:25.are still some fires which are burning in the upper floors. Paul
:44:26. > :44:30.Fuller is in Dunstable for us. For those of us who are joining us,
:44:31. > :44:33.explain what it is like for a firefighter going into a building
:44:34. > :44:41.that is ablaze like this one was last night? Well, extremely arduous.
:44:42. > :44:44.Firstly, my eye for all of our thoughts to those people who are
:44:45. > :44:52.affected by this dreadful incident and also respect to the women and
:44:53. > :44:56.men of London Fire Brigade who have have worked so hard to hard to try
:44:57. > :45:03.to help them. In conditions which, as you identified, must be awful.
:45:04. > :45:10.Hot, very difficult, full of anxiety and certainly a very difficult
:45:11. > :45:15.operation for them. Can I get your thoughts on the state put message
:45:16. > :45:19.that was given to residents in the block, do you think it is still
:45:20. > :45:24.valid, should it still be in place in these apartment blocks? State put
:45:25. > :45:31.has been and will continue to be a very successful policy. In effect it
:45:32. > :45:37.means that we are using the design of the building to create safety
:45:38. > :45:42.compartments to which people can remain so the fire can be dealt with
:45:43. > :45:50.on another floor and once the fire is dealt with than the people are
:45:51. > :45:56.safely kept in their fire compartment which is their own home.
:45:57. > :46:01.It does depend on the way the fire behaves and the way the building
:46:02. > :46:07.behaves. And an incident commander will make a decision based on
:46:08. > :46:12.whether the fire is behaving as expected or not to decide whether to
:46:13. > :46:19.stay with the state put policy for that specific incident or move to
:46:20. > :46:23.evacuation. The problem is that when you change the instructions, the
:46:24. > :46:27.only way to get it out of the building when there is no intercom
:46:28. > :46:30.system is to firefighters to go door-to-door and tell people to
:46:31. > :46:35.leave and that in a situation like that is not possible. And that is
:46:36. > :46:40.what London Fire Brigade have been doing so well today to evacuate
:46:41. > :46:46.people out of the building but clearly if people do not remain in
:46:47. > :46:50.the safety of their flats, then you have the problem of large numbers
:46:51. > :46:56.moving to the building potentially to a hazardous environment and say
:46:57. > :47:01.that decision has to be made at some point during the operation but that
:47:02. > :47:04.is an operational decision which would be made by officers at the
:47:05. > :47:11.scene according to their local policy. In terms of the fires that
:47:12. > :47:15.are still burning here tonight, I expect that is pretty common after a
:47:16. > :47:19.blaze as intense as this one, what to firefighters doing a situation
:47:20. > :47:24.like this, do you target those flames or can you let them burn out?
:47:25. > :47:30.Each fire is different but clearly in this case the London Fire
:47:31. > :47:39.Commissioner and her officers will be trying to determine those best
:47:40. > :47:50.strategies for that incident. OK, thank you very much indeed for that.
:47:51. > :47:54.I did tell you a short while ago that we have confirmed the
:47:55. > :48:01.identities of six of the missing. They are missing and not confirmed
:48:02. > :48:13.dead at this stage. HE READS LIST OF NAMES They at six of the missing but
:48:14. > :48:16.I want to stress, they are not confirmed dead, they are at this
:48:17. > :48:20.stage only missing. If there are viewers in the UK who are concerned
:48:21. > :48:23.about loved ones who might have been in the apartment block there was an
:48:24. > :48:25.emergency number that has been for anyone concerned. The casual to
:48:26. > :48:31.bureau number.