:00:00. > :00:00.. This programme contains scenes that some viewers may find
:00:00. > :00:09.upsetting. # It's been six days since Britain's
:00:10. > :00:11.worst fire in living memory. They were warned several
:00:12. > :00:15.times, countless times. They were warned probably
:00:16. > :00:20.until the day before the fire. Panorama has been with the people
:00:21. > :00:25.of Grenfell Tower... ...as they deal with
:00:26. > :00:34.the worst possible news. What sort of official
:00:35. > :00:52.support have you had? And demand to know how
:00:53. > :01:06.could this happen? The disaster of Grenfell Tower and
:01:07. > :01:21.why it should never have happened. It's 1am and the fire has started
:01:22. > :01:33.in a fridge in a flat We heard a loud bang -
:01:34. > :01:42.On the front door. Next thing we know, he's
:01:43. > :01:46.running in telling me, It was the flat next door,
:01:47. > :01:55.that was number 16. He grabbed the towels, wet them,
:01:56. > :02:00.put them on the kids' heads Grenfell Tower in West London has 24
:02:01. > :02:07.floors with up to six flats on each level,
:02:08. > :02:12.home to around 600 people. Four floors above the fire one
:02:13. > :02:18.resident has stayed up late. I kept on smelling like kind
:02:19. > :02:25.of a plastic melting and I'm I saw the lights outside my window,
:02:26. > :02:31.the flashing lights. I saw smoke and like sparks
:02:32. > :02:36.and flames on the sixth That's when I realised
:02:37. > :02:41.there's a fire. The fire quickly swept
:02:42. > :02:45.around the whole building. I have a friend of mine
:02:46. > :02:48.who lives with me. He run into my room as well
:02:49. > :02:53.and he said, About at 1.30am, there's little sign
:02:54. > :03:04.of panic. On the eighth floor Khalid
:03:05. > :03:07.is the only person awake. I opened the door to look
:03:08. > :03:11.into the corridor to see if other That's when I realised that my whole
:03:12. > :03:15.floor was just quiet, Rather than run for his life,
:03:16. > :03:24.Khalid starts waking his neighbours. I knocked on their door
:03:25. > :03:26.and he opened the door. But within minutes,
:03:27. > :03:34.the hall is full of smoke. The whole corridor just went pitch
:03:35. > :03:38.black and it was just smoke. Higher up on the 11th floor,
:03:39. > :03:41.Luka tries to find the staircase, I was almost unconscious,
:03:42. > :03:48.but I knew friend of mine I couldn't leave him
:03:49. > :03:53.in the apartment and I decide to go We took deep breath, both of us,
:03:54. > :04:06.with the cloths on the mouth and I was trying to find the way
:04:07. > :04:09.to the fire escape. There's loads of people standing
:04:10. > :04:21.on the higher level... Somebody was banging
:04:22. > :04:25.on the door from inside, We opened the door,
:04:26. > :04:29.there was a lady, Asian She was really,
:04:30. > :04:37.really out of control. We managed to get down,
:04:38. > :04:39.I don't know, two floors, I ask her, can you walk,
:04:40. > :04:45.like, we will help you, When I was out of the building,
:04:46. > :05:01.seeing people come from other areas and scream my granddad's in there,
:05:02. > :05:04.my dad's in there, my brother's in there, my friends are in there -
:05:05. > :05:11.that made it 100 times worse. A ferocious fire is now ripping
:05:12. > :05:15.through people's homes. It literally looked
:05:16. > :05:27.like it was fizzing. I think no more than half
:05:28. > :05:31.an hour after the flames were popping out of the window,
:05:32. > :05:38.the whole building was immersed. On the ground, neighbours
:05:39. > :05:44.like Joe watch in horror. I actually saw two
:05:45. > :05:48.figures just drop. I could see their arms
:05:49. > :05:54.and legs and stuff moving. There's someone in the top
:05:55. > :05:55.shining his light. That was the worst part for me,
:05:56. > :06:07.when you see people - you can actually see -
:06:08. > :06:10.these are human beings, He's made a rope from his bed
:06:11. > :06:19.and he's sent it down. When they jumped, when they felt
:06:20. > :06:22.that it was just instinct and you wanted to get away
:06:23. > :06:25.from the heat or anything like that, That is when it became
:06:26. > :06:43.burned on my memory. Britain wakes to a disaster zone
:06:44. > :06:48.in the heart of London. A tour block still
:06:49. > :06:53.burning out of control. Firefighters are still
:06:54. > :07:02.trying to get people out. And scores of people
:07:03. > :07:33.are unaccounted for. There's very little
:07:34. > :07:43.official information. Everywhere you go, people are
:07:44. > :07:51.worried or searching or grieving. I heard all sort of news,
:07:52. > :07:55.one whole family came out, Other families only
:07:56. > :08:03.four kids came out. The smoking building sits
:08:04. > :08:15.above the whole area. Now this is a traumatised area
:08:16. > :08:18.because people watched it happen. We're looking at that
:08:19. > :08:37.and the bodies are still in there. Alongside the searching
:08:38. > :08:40.and the horror, something People go onto the streets
:08:41. > :08:50.and start giving their time and their possessions
:08:51. > :08:54.to those in need. Turned on the news and just
:08:55. > :09:00.ran straight down here, We've asked the local
:09:01. > :09:09.public to donate. As you can see, there's
:09:10. > :09:13.been a great response. This is amazing, it seems
:09:14. > :09:18.completely spontaneous. All these people have
:09:19. > :09:20.come here just to help, to give what they can,
:09:21. > :09:25.to do what they can, to volunteer. I spent 13-and-a-half years
:09:26. > :09:28.in the London Fire Brigade. Someone's in trouble,
:09:29. > :09:36.we'll come and help. You might expect an emergency plan,
:09:37. > :09:40.even the army, but there only seems to be volunteers offering help
:09:41. > :09:45.on the streets. So many people have come
:09:46. > :09:49.around the community. How are we going to get over it,
:09:50. > :10:11.it's a different problem. At the end of the first day
:10:12. > :10:20.the official number of dead is 12. But those who live around the tower
:10:21. > :10:31.know many more have been lost. But be honest in your heart,
:10:32. > :10:36.you know the survivors from up on the top floor,
:10:37. > :10:39.there's no-one there, is there? It's been 21 hours since Mahad
:10:40. > :10:57.escaped from the fourth floor. Some of Mahad's friends
:10:58. > :11:01.thought he was dead. They've just found out
:11:02. > :11:09.he and his partner are alive. But many can't find
:11:10. > :11:18.who they're looking for. Maria knows her brother
:11:19. > :11:22.was near the top of the tower block My brother he lives
:11:23. > :11:28.on the 20th floor. My mum called him at 1am
:11:29. > :11:37.and he told her there is fire. He told her no, I called the police
:11:38. > :11:42.and the police said to me, They asked me to put
:11:43. > :11:49.towel on the door. He was talking but he said
:11:50. > :11:53.he couldn't breathe from the smoke. What do you think has
:11:54. > :11:55.happened to your brother? While we're filming,
:11:56. > :12:03.a friend arrives with news. 3.30.
:12:04. > :12:20.2.30? We don't know, but he
:12:21. > :12:25.The friend spoke to Maria's brother much later in the night
:12:26. > :12:29.and he was still trapped on the 20th floor.
:12:30. > :13:21.One question stands out: How can a small kitchen fire in one flat
:13:22. > :13:42.On the streets, you hear the same points being raised.
:13:43. > :13:46.That residents were told to stay in their flats.
:13:47. > :13:51.That there was no central fire alarm or sprinkler system.
:13:52. > :13:54.And that the cladding on the outside of the building,
:13:55. > :14:03.It's important to understand the way these concrete blocks were designed.
:14:04. > :14:08.Fires are supposed to be contained in individual flats.
:14:09. > :14:13.So you don't necessarily need sprinklers or central alarms,
:14:14. > :14:15.because the building's fire-proof structure should give
:14:16. > :14:27.So why didn't that happen in Grenfell Tower?
:14:28. > :14:32.Panorama has been told by senior fire sources and residents that
:14:33. > :14:37.firefighters did put out the initial fridge fire.
:14:38. > :14:47.Staying put would have been the right advice.
:14:48. > :14:55.But crucial changes had been made to the Tower's
:14:56. > :15:06.So this building has been taken from a building where fire could not
:15:07. > :15:15.of the building from flat to flat, to one which was a death trap.
:15:16. > :15:18.Grenfell Tower had been covered in cladding as part
:15:19. > :15:21.of a refurbishment a couple of years ago.
:15:22. > :15:24.It was supposed to help insulate the building.
:15:25. > :15:30.The cladding used was the cheaper, less fire-resistant variety.
:15:31. > :15:34.So it's the cladding that changes everything.
:15:35. > :15:37.That safety model doesn't work if the fire spreads
:15:38. > :15:43.rapidly and that seems to be what happened here.
:15:44. > :15:45.I think there are questions definitely to be asked
:15:46. > :15:48.about the quality of cladding, there's questions about how the
:15:49. > :15:52.cladding was applied to the building.
:15:53. > :15:55.For example what happens if flame gets behind the cladding.
:15:56. > :16:00.I would say it's wicked that these people have lost their lives
:16:01. > :16:19.I knew that there would be a huge number of fatalities.
:16:20. > :16:23.What I also knew is that I had warned about this.
:16:24. > :16:30.It was foreseeable and these deaths are totally and utterly unnecessary.
:16:31. > :16:33.So what's the view of the man that runs the council
:16:34. > :16:40.Nobody designs a building that does what happened on Wednesday morning.
:16:41. > :16:43.That is nobody's intention or expectation.
:16:44. > :16:45.But it does happen if you don't spend the money
:16:46. > :16:47.properly, because the design is flawed, because the material
:16:48. > :16:50.It is banned in other countries, sir.
:16:51. > :16:52.We will need to look at the material, at the
:16:53. > :16:55.specification for what was done in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower,
:16:56. > :17:00.but the council's intention at the time was to improve those homes.
:17:01. > :17:02.The authorities had been warned about
:17:03. > :17:07.the dangers of renovating tower blocks.
:17:08. > :17:10.Six people were killed after a fire in a modernised building in
:17:11. > :17:16.By 2013, the Government was promising a review of
:17:17. > :17:26.The Parliamentary Fire Safety Group has written to the
:17:27. > :17:31.Government about a dozen times warning lives are in danger.
:17:32. > :17:42.The MPs say, can we really afford to wait for another tragedy?
:17:43. > :17:46.They complain life safety implications are not considered to
:17:47. > :17:49.be urgent and just two months ago they were still warning the
:17:50. > :17:56.The Government acknowledged that producing a statement on building
:17:57. > :18:01.regulations had taken longer than expected.
:18:02. > :18:03.Today, the Government told us that it still doesn't have a
:18:04. > :18:11.timeline for the review it promised in 2013.
:18:12. > :18:16.Well, red tape is the sort of thing that says, you have a
:18:17. > :18:21.To people living in a block of flats,
:18:22. > :18:24.that's the difference between life and death.
:18:25. > :18:26.The Government now says the cladding at Grenfell Tower was
:18:27. > :18:38.The regulations are unclear, that's why it's still being used.
:18:39. > :18:43.We have spent four years saying, listen, we
:18:44. > :18:46.have got the evidence, we have provided you with the evidence,
:18:47. > :18:48.there is clear public opinion towards this and I think you ought
:18:49. > :18:53.The building management company and the council
:18:54. > :18:58.who own the building didn't have to rely on official warnings.
:18:59. > :19:00.They were told by those who live in Grenfell
:19:01. > :19:09.In a blog six months ago, the residents predicted a disaster.
:19:10. > :19:11.Only a catastrophic event will expose the
:19:12. > :19:15.ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord.
:19:16. > :19:19.The Grenfell Action Group predict that it won't be long before
:19:20. > :19:22.the words of this blog come back to haunt KCTMO management.
:19:23. > :19:25.They can't say that they haven't been warned.
:19:26. > :19:33.They were warned during the regeneration.
:19:34. > :19:37.They were warned after the regeneration.
:19:38. > :19:40.They were warned probably until the day before the fire
:19:41. > :19:48.They were ignored, sir, weren't they?
:19:49. > :19:49.They said there would be a catastrophe
:19:50. > :19:53.Sadly, there has been a catastrophe, I don't
:19:54. > :19:58.think anybody can deny there's been a catastrophe,
:19:59. > :20:00.but what's concerning me and the council at this stage is
:20:01. > :20:03.first of all why the fire started and secondly why it spread
:20:04. > :20:11.That rapid spread meant firefighters were walking into a
:20:12. > :20:13.multi-storey inferno - a situation they had
:20:14. > :20:59.I've never heard of an incident where people are actually
:21:00. > :21:02.discussing the possibility that people might not come out.
:21:03. > :21:04.Despite that, large numbers of firefighters
:21:05. > :21:09.I know that normal procedures were broken,
:21:10. > :21:22.Yes, they risked their lives to try and save other people's lives...
:21:23. > :21:29.So where does this disaster leave the thousands across
:21:30. > :21:32.the country who live in renovated flats?
:21:33. > :21:35.If there's a fire, should they stay or run?
:21:36. > :21:38.The Government has announced a review of all high rise
:21:39. > :21:42.buildings, particularly those with cladding.
:21:43. > :21:48.There are 4,000 tower blocks that were
:21:49. > :21:51.These people have the right to live in
:21:52. > :22:05.There is going to be some perishable food coming that needs to
:22:06. > :22:09.You have got manpower, but ladies you would be
:22:10. > :22:15.Over the course of the week, the volunteer army grew and grew.
:22:16. > :22:17.By Friday, so much had been donated the
:22:18. > :22:25.To the council, I would like to say, please, can you free up some storage
:22:26. > :22:28.for us, because everywhere is saying we are full, we are full and
:22:29. > :22:31.yet more people are bringing, so what do we do?
:22:32. > :22:34.I have been here since the beginning and one of the
:22:35. > :22:38.amazing things is the way the community has pulled together.
:22:39. > :22:40.And spontaneously looked after itself.
:22:41. > :22:44.What I also have to say I've seen very
:22:45. > :22:49.Now it may be here, but I haven't seen it.
:22:50. > :22:55.And neither have many of the local residents.
:22:56. > :23:02.What's making us angry is that where do you see any real
:23:03. > :23:05.If this was two weeks ago when the election
:23:06. > :23:07.was happening, every councillor could have been down
:23:08. > :23:12.This is the poor city and you have got the rich city.
:23:13. > :23:15.We pay our taxes, I work, if you're paying your
:23:16. > :23:18.taxes and you are a resident in this community, why aren't you not
:23:19. > :23:23.You know that this the richest borough of London?
:23:24. > :23:27.They're trying to get poor people out.
:23:28. > :23:30.You're telling me these people if there was rich people living
:23:31. > :23:32.there it wouldn't be put out in half an hour?
:23:33. > :23:35.It is just poor people dying, that is what it is.
:23:36. > :23:37.Many here do think if they were wealthy, there
:23:38. > :23:40.And with nobody apparently taking responsibility, the Prime Minister
:23:41. > :23:59.Presumably she has some type of a heart and soul, but
:24:00. > :24:08.But the council is the main focus of anger.
:24:09. > :24:12.The crowd gathers at Kensington Town Hall.
:24:13. > :24:14.People are very angry here and truthfully this
:24:15. > :24:19.For the first couple of days, people were just
:24:20. > :24:35.But now people are demanding answers.
:24:36. > :24:44.Three days since the fire, this has now
:24:45. > :24:47.become a flash point, this door to the council
:24:48. > :24:48.has become the focus of
:24:49. > :24:52.They have got lots of questions, they're very angry at the people
:24:53. > :24:56.People don't want on the whole here a confrontation, but
:24:57. > :24:58.there is the one now at the front of this building.
:24:59. > :25:08.Because I want to tell you, we need to be heard.
:25:09. > :25:19.The crowd marches back to Grenfell Tower.
:25:20. > :25:24.It takes them through some of Britain's richest streets.
:25:25. > :25:32.What do you think of what's happening.
:25:33. > :25:52.It was abn outrage and the terrible thing for this
:25:53. > :25:55.community and the council don't listen to what people would say.
:25:56. > :25:57.People want to come to our communities and divide it.
:25:58. > :26:03.The people who died in that tower were let down by the system.
:26:04. > :26:05.The people who survived feel that they
:26:06. > :26:07.were let down again, because they got no help.
:26:08. > :26:14.I'm obviously extremely upset by the scale of devastation that
:26:15. > :26:16.took place last Wednesday morning and I support
:26:17. > :26:21.being put into place, the inquiries that are being set up.
:26:22. > :26:23.The latest prediction is that 79 people lost
:26:24. > :26:33.Mahad has given up completely on support from the authorities.
:26:34. > :26:38.I have not seen the head of Kensington
:26:39. > :26:41.and Chelsea Housing come out to the victims and say,
:26:42. > :26:46.The people who are responsible for the safety of Kensington and
:26:47. > :26:56.Chelsea community are not doing enough.
:26:57. > :26:59.Joe has been moved back into his apartment block next to
:27:00. > :27:06.And Luka, who escaped from the 11th floor,
:27:07. > :27:09.has been reunited with the woman he saved.
:27:10. > :27:17.As far as I remember, a big man helped me out.
:27:18. > :27:33.Today, the country paused to remember those who
:27:34. > :27:43.What started as a kitchen fire, brought Britain to a halt.
:27:44. > :27:47.A disaster that showed how the state failed to protect people and
:27:48. > :27:52.then failed to look after those who survived.
:27:53. > :27:56.Grenfell Tower stands as a monument to a system that simply