14/06/2017

:00:00. > :00:07.Hello, this is Breakfast, with Charlie Stayt

:00:08. > :00:12.A major incident is declared as a huge fire engulfs a tower block

:00:13. > :00:20.Firefighters are tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower near Notting Hill.

:00:21. > :00:24.Local reports say that residents are trapped in the building.

:00:25. > :00:28.More than 200 firefighters are at the scene,

:00:29. > :00:59.We can take you straight in the major fire in a 24 story tower block

:01:00. > :01:06.in West London. These are the live images you can see now.

:01:07. > :01:14.This is the Grenfell Tower, a 24-floor block of flats,

:01:15. > :01:21.And the fire broke out in the early hours of this morning between 12 and

:01:22. > :01:27.one o'clock. The first call to the Metropolitan police was at 1:15am.

:01:28. > :01:33.The blaze, you can see now - there are no flames this stage, just

:01:34. > :01:37.smoke, and you can see the damage done to the building. Let's give you

:01:38. > :01:41.a sense from the images last night from the early hours of the morning.

:01:42. > :01:44.You can get a real sense of the scale of the blaze that was

:01:45. > :01:50.engulfing the building. Let's tell you about who is tackling

:01:51. > :01:54.the fire at the moment. Around 200 firefighters, 40 fire engines, and

:01:55. > :01:58.of course London ambulance has sent a number of vehicles and medical

:01:59. > :02:06.staff to the scene. Our correspondent is at the scene this

:02:07. > :02:10.morning. Tell us what you can see. Well, you can see the block is still

:02:11. > :02:15.alight. You can see some flames there. You can see the fire brigade

:02:16. > :02:21.hosing down the lower reaches of the building. But the fire service said

:02:22. > :02:26.that this was a blaze reaching from the second floor right up to the

:02:27. > :02:32.27th floor. It's been a blaze for five hours now. We hear from the

:02:33. > :02:36.police that there have been a number and a range of injuries but we have

:02:37. > :02:41.no precise details. We have some very disturbing eyewitness reports

:02:42. > :02:45.from people nearer the building at the time of the fire. They say they

:02:46. > :02:49.could hear people screaming for help. We've spoken to people

:02:50. > :02:55.ourselves who said they could see the flash of mobile phones

:02:56. > :02:58.apparently signalling through the windows of the building. There are

:02:59. > :03:04.even some reports of people jumping from the building. What I did see

:03:05. > :03:08.with my own eyes in the early hours of the morning was the bottom left

:03:09. > :03:12.of the building, which, small part of it that hasn't been engulfed in

:03:13. > :03:18.flames - you can see that hydraulic platform with the hose. It was just

:03:19. > :03:22.behind that, maybe three o'clock or four o'clock in the morning, we

:03:23. > :03:26.could see a person briefly at the window, a figure, we don't know if

:03:27. > :03:30.it was a resident - probably a resident, didn't know if it was a

:03:31. > :03:34.firefighter - briefly came back to the window, and we didn't see that

:03:35. > :03:38.person again, so hopefully the Fire Brigade, who were in the building

:03:39. > :03:43.with breathing apparatus, hopefully that person was rescued from the

:03:44. > :03:47.block, but the fate of quite a few people is unknown at the moment. We

:03:48. > :03:51.will be coming back to use a constant updates throughout the

:03:52. > :03:55.morning. We should warn viewers this morning, these pictures are very,

:03:56. > :03:58.very distressing, and we've heard some distressing eyewitness accounts

:03:59. > :04:03.as well throughout the night ends this fire has been reported, so we

:04:04. > :04:08.do warn you that of course there is a live situation, and these pictures

:04:09. > :04:12.may seem very distressing to viewers watching Breakfast this morning.

:04:13. > :04:16.Let's speak now to eyewitness Stuart Budd.

:04:17. > :04:23.What do you know about what happened? Where were you when you

:04:24. > :04:27.realised the fire had started? I was at home actually. I live around the

:04:28. > :04:32.block, about three miles away, but I didn't know the magnitude of it. I

:04:33. > :04:36.basically thought I'd go down there, take a couple of coats and a couple

:04:37. > :04:40.of bottles of water. I couldn't believe what I had seen. The whole

:04:41. > :04:48.building was on fire from the bottom to the top. I used to be the postman

:04:49. > :04:52.in the 80s, and by boys used to box in the gym under there, the boxing

:04:53. > :04:57.club, so I know the building very well. Honestly, you could hear

:04:58. > :05:02.people screaming. Bits of the building falling, loud explosions,

:05:03. > :05:08.things falling, coming out the building, about 20 to 30 metres out,

:05:09. > :05:11.and the smoke was unbelievable. Like people have said, flashing lights

:05:12. > :05:23.and tortures and all sorts of stuff, and you can't imagine anyone - I'm

:05:24. > :05:26.glad people got out. But a friend, he believed his loved ones were

:05:27. > :05:30.trapped on the 21st, and lost contact at two o'clock, and he was

:05:31. > :05:36.telling them he didn't think he'd make it out, so I don't know if you

:05:37. > :05:40.did or didn't, but... You think kids are going to go to school today and

:05:41. > :05:44.their mates are not going to be there, and people will go to work

:05:45. > :05:48.and their workmates will not be there. Tell us a little more about

:05:49. > :05:55.the scene when you arrived. This is around 2am, you said, and by that

:05:56. > :05:58.point, we were seeing the building pretty much entirely engulfed in

:05:59. > :06:04.flames, possibly with the exception of the first few flaws. Just

:06:05. > :06:08.described the scene you saw. I was looking out from the East, I

:06:09. > :06:14.suppose, and from the top corner of the building, the bit you are

:06:15. > :06:18.showing on the news now, on the top left, from that triangle shakedown,

:06:19. > :06:25.it just seemed to be sort of smouldering, but then a shape like

:06:26. > :06:30.the letter A, just flames were flying out the building. Like in a

:06:31. > :06:35.big A, all the way from the top to the bottom of the building.

:06:36. > :06:41.Unbelievable, redhot flames. Honestly, I've never seen anything

:06:42. > :06:45.like it. We can hear the shock in your voice. I'm cautious this

:06:46. > :06:49.morning because we've heard some very harrowing eyewitness accounts

:06:50. > :06:55.of people calling out from the building itself during the course of

:06:56. > :07:02.those early hours. What can you tell us about people who might be caught

:07:03. > :07:06.up in this? Well, I could hear screams, but it was hard to know if

:07:07. > :07:10.they were from people at the bottom of the building or in the building.

:07:11. > :07:13.There was so much noise going on around the place. You can imagine

:07:14. > :07:19.all the sirens, the helicopters above. It was pure panic and mayhem,

:07:20. > :07:24.I've got to tell you. Well, there's not a lot you can say. It's just

:07:25. > :07:29.awful. You mentioned before that you were a postman, you used to deliver

:07:30. > :07:33.in that building. Can you give us some sense of the construction of

:07:34. > :07:39.the building, the lift shafts - the building itself? You walk in. You

:07:40. > :07:42.know what, I wouldn't like to comment now because it's changed,

:07:43. > :07:47.they've refurbished it. I haven't been in the building for 25 or 30

:07:48. > :07:52.years. In the old days, there was a lift, a normal lift shaft. You went

:07:53. > :07:59.straight in. To all the flats, ten, 12 on each floor. Just the normal...

:08:00. > :08:06.Normal tower block that you'd find all over Britain. Thank you for your

:08:07. > :08:09.time this morning. One of the early eyewitnesses who watched as the

:08:10. > :08:14.flames engulfed the building. If you are just tuning in, we are

:08:15. > :08:20.keeping you up-to-date on the London tower block fire that began in the

:08:21. > :08:25.early hours of this morning. This is Grenfell Tower in west London, very

:08:26. > :08:30.close to Notting Hill. Firefighters are battling now to bring the fire

:08:31. > :08:33.under control, and of course rescue people who are still trapped inside

:08:34. > :08:41.this 24 storey tower block in West London. Emergency services are at

:08:42. > :08:44.the scene, 200 firefighters, we understand, 40 engines, at least 20

:08:45. > :08:50.ambulance crews, and the emergency services have been deep in people

:08:51. > :08:54.up-to-date -- keeping people up-to-date on social media. London

:08:55. > :08:57.Fire Brigade confirmed 40 fire engines and more than 200

:08:58. > :09:03.firefighters and officers have been called to that tower block fire.

:09:04. > :09:07.London Ambulance were called at 1:29am to reports of the fire, the

:09:08. > :09:13.first reports to emergency services at Lancaster West estate. They

:09:14. > :09:20.continued - we have sent a number of resources to the scene, a hazardous

:09:21. > :09:25.area response, and 20 ambulances. Let's bring you up to date on what

:09:26. > :09:30.is happening in the area, very close to the A40. Metropolitan police

:09:31. > :09:34.confirming the A40 is closed in both directions are a very busy route

:09:35. > :09:42.into West London and the centre of town, saying, North Kensington

:09:43. > :09:45.police saying, do avoid the area. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has

:09:46. > :09:52.declared this incident at Grenfell Tower, saying there are 40 fire

:09:53. > :09:56.engines and 200 firefighters at the scene. An anonymous eyewitness has

:09:57. > :10:00.told us that he has heard that people have been jumping onto

:10:01. > :10:05.airbags put on the ground by the fire crews and have survived the

:10:06. > :10:09.jump. We can talk to another eyewitness now who has seen the

:10:10. > :10:14.situation unfold overnight. Thank you for joining us On Breakfast. Can

:10:15. > :10:21.you tell us when you first realised the building was on fire? Yes, it

:10:22. > :10:29.was around 1:15am when we heard screams through the windows, and one

:10:30. > :10:37.of my relatives woke up and looked out the window and saw one side of

:10:38. > :10:40.the building totally aflame, woke us up, and we immediately started

:10:41. > :10:45.shouting for help and got down to the street and came out towards the

:10:46. > :10:52.building to see if we could help anyone. And you live near to the

:10:53. > :10:57.building? Yes, we live about a kilometre away, a short walk. And

:10:58. > :11:03.obviously people are tuning into this news, waking up to this news

:11:04. > :11:06.this morning. You've seen some very distressing images, sell as much as

:11:07. > :11:13.you can to temper that, but to tell us exactly what you were seeing, how

:11:14. > :11:17.people were being rescued. Well, I met people coming out of the

:11:18. > :11:22.building, people known to us, family and friends, coming out of their own

:11:23. > :11:30.accord, three different families that we met who are safely

:11:31. > :11:35.evacuated, evacuated themselves, and that was in the early hours of the

:11:36. > :11:46.event. I understand that the stairs became unusable after a certain

:11:47. > :11:51.amount of time, but we did learn that two people got out around 4:30

:11:52. > :11:54.a.m., so that was good news, and I've been in the crowds where some

:11:55. > :12:02.of the survivors have been standing and speaking with people. We were

:12:03. > :12:07.actively watching one building window on the 11th or 12th floor,

:12:08. > :12:12.where a man has been seen walking in and out of the room, opening the

:12:13. > :12:18.window and closing it. That's happening now? That's right. We've

:12:19. > :12:26.been monitoring that person since probably around 3:45 a.m., Laura

:12:27. > :12:30.Clark, -- four o'clock, and it was one of the people that we saw

:12:31. > :12:35.visibly in the building while it was on fire. We understand several

:12:36. > :12:40.people are still trapped in the building. Have you had any

:12:41. > :12:45.indication of how many may still be in there, where firefighters are

:12:46. > :12:49.trying to focus their efforts? They are focusing their efforts on the

:12:50. > :12:53.lower floors, and understandably, because that's where the water can

:12:54. > :13:02.reach, and there is a portion of the building which you may be able to

:13:03. > :13:08.scene, which is relatively unburned, and that's where the person I've

:13:09. > :13:13.been watching was, and his window is now closed, if indeed it is a man -

:13:14. > :13:17.I cannot tell - and I cannot confirm any other reports really because I

:13:18. > :13:21.can only comment on what I've seen with my own eyes, but other people

:13:22. > :13:25.have said they know of people who did not come out who live there, but

:13:26. > :13:30.that's just information I've heard second-hand, so I can't confirm it.

:13:31. > :13:35.Indeed, and this is a very close-knit community, but quite

:13:36. > :13:38.densely populated community as well in the area, and we understand

:13:39. > :13:43.people are being told to move community centres to gather while

:13:44. > :13:50.accommodation is being sought for them. Can you tell us where people

:13:51. > :13:55.are being directed to go to? As far as I can tell, there are several

:13:56. > :14:05.different centres around the centre, the Latimer Christian centre, but I

:14:06. > :14:09.haven't had the specifics of which other areas devoted to gather

:14:10. > :14:15.survivors Anthony people who may have survived the fire. OK, thank

:14:16. > :14:17.you very much for your time and your eyewitness accounts are asked on BBC

:14:18. > :14:27.News. The live images we are showing you

:14:28. > :14:31.now are a major fire in West London. Let's give you a sense of the

:14:32. > :14:35.geography. We are in the Latimer Road area in White city. The block

:14:36. > :14:39.is called Grenfell Tower. You can see the wide shot over London, gives

:14:40. > :14:45.you a real sense of the scale of this lays. This is a 27 storey

:14:46. > :14:55.building. This is the area of Notting Hill Gate, not far from

:14:56. > :14:57.Shepherds Bush. You can see from the wide images, smoke still billowing

:14:58. > :15:03.from the building, spreading wide across London, so in terms of the

:15:04. > :15:09.timeline, we understand first indications are of the fire between

:15:10. > :15:14.12 and one o'clock, in the early hours of this morning. We will show

:15:15. > :15:24.you now some of the images that were taken. This is around two or three

:15:25. > :15:28.in the morning. From the people we've spoken to, it would appear the

:15:29. > :15:32.main part of the fire was in the middle of the building and then

:15:33. > :15:36.spread to the upper floors. The big question is, of course, about

:15:37. > :15:40.casualties. There are no official figures at the moment. We know a

:15:41. > :15:45.number of people have been taken away by ambulance, and we've heard

:15:46. > :15:50.from eyewitnesses who have spoken to those who have escaped, obviously

:15:51. > :15:54.wearing night dear. This happened in the middle of the night. A lot of

:15:55. > :15:59.families lived in the middle of this apartment block. So we are waiting

:16:00. > :16:02.for confirmation from the emergency services. A major Internet has been

:16:03. > :16:09.declared and the streets surrounding have been shut down, and the A40 has

:16:10. > :16:14.been shut down because of the fire and the surrounding areas.

:16:15. > :16:18.We can give you an idea of the scale of this fire. We can show you the

:16:19. > :16:23.wider shot from London. This has been taken from the top of Millbank

:16:24. > :16:29.Tower, just five miles away, so you can see the extent of this flame,

:16:30. > :16:33.these flames, and this smoke billowing from this building. We

:16:34. > :16:37.have been told by eyewitnesses throughout the night that the

:16:38. > :16:41.streets are full of fire engines and unmarked response cars. One

:16:42. > :16:47.eyewitness, declined to be named, said he had heard explosions coming

:16:48. > :16:51.from the building. This is the view from five miles away. Another

:16:52. > :16:55.gentleman has said, from the East End, he can see the smoke from the

:16:56. > :16:58.fire and were drifting from Shepherds Bush towards Alexandra

:16:59. > :17:03.Palace, and as Charlie said we haven't had any specific numbers yet

:17:04. > :17:08.on injuries or people being trapped inside the building or any deaths so

:17:09. > :17:14.far, but of course we will keep you updated.

:17:15. > :17:22.Led speak to somebody who lives close to the tower. These are the

:17:23. > :17:26.images you can see live on the screen. Good morning. When did you

:17:27. > :17:36.first become aware of the problems? At about 1am this morning I heard

:17:37. > :17:41.what sounded like shooting sounds, bangs, and lots of police sirens.

:17:42. > :17:45.Then the length of the sirens extended and increased but I

:17:46. > :17:51.realised it might be something serious. I looked out my window

:17:52. > :17:55.expecting to find people with guns, but that was now what we know where

:17:56. > :18:03.these explosions, that bangs, which got louder. I at quarter past I

:18:04. > :18:07.looked up rather than down and I saw that the building was in three parts

:18:08. > :18:11.and I saw that one column on the right hand side was ablaze. So by

:18:12. > :18:16.1:30am I was downed by the building. Other neighbours and people living

:18:17. > :18:21.nearby had gathered and we watched the fire spread to the left. Then it

:18:22. > :18:28.completely engulfed the building. Especially the top half of the

:18:29. > :18:33.building, it burnt through and then some of the flats you can still see

:18:34. > :18:39.are ablaze at the moment. Were people emerging from the building in

:18:40. > :18:43.those early hours? Yes, at the beginning there were people who had

:18:44. > :18:48.actually escaped from the 16th floor, but it was right at the very

:18:49. > :18:52.beginning. Then there were people we met later who escaped a little bit

:18:53. > :18:58.later using the stairwell, but I heard since then that the stairwell

:18:59. > :19:02.has all been on fire as well, I can't imagine how people would be

:19:03. > :19:07.able to use them any more to escape, unfortunately. In the last few

:19:08. > :19:11.minutes we spoke to eyewitnesses locally who said that even as

:19:12. > :19:15.recently as 4:30am or 5am they could still see people in the building.

:19:16. > :19:20.What can you tell us about that? Absolutely. People waving mobile

:19:21. > :19:26.phones, men who were screaming extended calls of help, I heard

:19:27. > :19:31.little girls screaming for help. It was just awful. That's actually one

:19:32. > :19:35.of the things that's very peculiar, but it was the still of the night,

:19:36. > :19:40.completely dark and silent and then I heard this banging sounds, the

:19:41. > :19:45.sirens, and then I heard people screaming for help. As I was walking

:19:46. > :19:49.towards the building I heard the sounds intensify, but even from my

:19:50. > :19:53.window, I live across the road in another flat, I could hear people

:19:54. > :19:58.screaming "help" in the dead of night. It was horrific, really

:19:59. > :20:04.traumatic. Should warn people who are joining us this morning that the

:20:05. > :20:09.fires you can see, that have taken hold in this building in the Latimer

:20:10. > :20:13.Road area, we are speaking to an eyewitness and inevitably there are

:20:14. > :20:21.some very grim stories and details emerging. Were you able to see

:20:22. > :20:25.firefighters who we know where there in force, were they able to get into

:20:26. > :20:29.the building? We have seen ladders with water being sprayed into the

:20:30. > :20:33.building, in daylight this morning. Were they able to get into the

:20:34. > :20:37.building? I can only give you second-hand accounts from people who

:20:38. > :20:41.were inside the building and met firemen in the stairwell. So they

:20:42. > :20:45.were inside the building. They successfully retrieved some people

:20:46. > :20:51.from the building. Obviously the area next to the building is

:20:52. > :20:55.cordoned off and secure. But I have heard that from people who have been

:20:56. > :20:59.rescued that they were rescued by the Fire Brigade, so they are in

:21:00. > :21:04.there and doing the best they can. But the building itself, that's the

:21:05. > :21:13.difficulty. Apparently the cladding is the reason it spread so fast. I

:21:14. > :21:16.don't know for sure but the academy was built and then they decided to

:21:17. > :21:23.upgrade the tower block, which is immediately in front of the academy.

:21:24. > :21:27.It seems that is what was set ablaze so quickly. In previous years there

:21:28. > :21:33.were fires but they were contained to one flat and never spread so

:21:34. > :21:39.quickly before. If we can just go to the images that we saw earlier, the

:21:40. > :21:43.night-time images, when the fire was at its height. This would have been

:21:44. > :21:47.when you first saw the blaze. I don't know if you can give us a

:21:48. > :21:51.sense of the scale of that fire. I mean, you must have been

:21:52. > :21:55.extraordinary heat. It must have been a terrifying thing to be near?

:21:56. > :22:02.I've never seen anything like it. I've never witnessed anything like

:22:03. > :22:06.it. As many people have been saying, they hope they never will again. To

:22:07. > :22:11.see a building fully ablaze like this, for it to get to this point

:22:12. > :22:16.without being put out, for it to have reached so many family homes,

:22:17. > :22:24.unfortunately, for so many people to have not come out. The top part of

:22:25. > :22:28.the building is completely burned through. No one can understand how

:22:29. > :22:32.anybody would have escaped from that, unless they got out at the

:22:33. > :22:38.very beginning stages. Yes, shocking, really. It would appear

:22:39. > :22:44.that within a short space of time the scale of the problem escalated

:22:45. > :22:50.very quickly from those early indications. As we understand it,

:22:51. > :22:57.between 12 and 1am, when the first fire began, at it clearly escalated

:22:58. > :23:00.very quickly. Very rapidly. Again, this is what I heard second-hand,

:23:01. > :23:06.but apparently someone on the fourth floor, their refrigerator exploded.

:23:07. > :23:10.I met their neighbour who said a cane and knocked on their door and

:23:11. > :23:14.said, my fridge has exploded, get out. So they left the building and

:23:15. > :23:20.then it just rapidly went through the building. But like I said at the

:23:21. > :23:24.beginning it was kind of in three parts. It went through one side of

:23:25. > :23:31.the building, then it started moving towards the left. Yes, very rapidly

:23:32. > :23:36.it went through. Everyone kept thinking that hopefully the white

:23:37. > :23:40.columns were concrete and would prevent the spread, but they won't

:23:41. > :23:45.as far as we can tell. They were burnt away. They were just part of

:23:46. > :23:55.this new cladding on the outside of the building. Just as we look at the

:23:56. > :23:59.images this morning in daylight, you were saying about people you know or

:24:00. > :24:03.people who you have spoken to who know people who have lived in the

:24:04. > :24:07.apartment block. Can you give us a sense of who was living there. We

:24:08. > :24:11.have heard reports of many children and families living there. Many

:24:12. > :24:15.children. Something I will never forget is hearing the children

:24:16. > :24:21.screaming for help. So for sure lots of children. This area is full of

:24:22. > :24:28.families, diverse backgrounds, every ethnicity. Every religion, everybody

:24:29. > :24:30.gets along really well. You've got primary schools, secondary schools

:24:31. > :24:36.here, churches, mosques, leisure centres. This is a very densely

:24:37. > :24:42.populated area, so we has affected a lot of people. Nearly everybody in

:24:43. > :24:50.the surrounding area knows someone personally or has a family member

:24:51. > :24:54.who was in that building. We really appreciate your time this morning.

:24:55. > :24:58.That was one of the witnesses who saw as the fire engulfed the block

:24:59. > :25:02.of flats this morning. For anybody switching on this

:25:03. > :25:09.morning, you are seeing a London tower block fire, Grenfell Tower, in

:25:10. > :25:16.Latimer Road, in White City. This tower block caught fire in the early

:25:17. > :25:22.hours of this morning. A 24 story building. These are the pictures

:25:23. > :25:27.when the flame was in Full Tilt last night. We have been hearing

:25:28. > :25:32.eyewitness accounts throughout the night from people in the area and in

:25:33. > :25:36.the community. We should warn you, we will be hearing some distressing

:25:37. > :25:39.accounts this morning. We just heard that children were screaming for

:25:40. > :25:43.help. This is a tower block filled with families, a very densely

:25:44. > :25:49.populated area in west London and people are still being rescued.

:25:50. > :25:53.There are 200 firefighters at the scene and 40 fire engines. The

:25:54. > :25:57.British ambulance service has just said it has already taken 30 people

:25:58. > :26:02.to fight hospitals following this fire. So 30 patients already have

:26:03. > :26:05.been taken to fight hospitals in the London area following this tower

:26:06. > :26:10.block fire. We will keep you up-to-date throughout the morning.

:26:11. > :26:20.It can show you the scene. Plumes of smoke coming from the building in

:26:21. > :26:24.west London. The A40, the main road one -- running into West London,

:26:25. > :26:27.been closed. This programme is a little bit

:26:28. > :26:30.different this morning due to these events. We will take a break for a

:26:31. > :30:05.short time to get Good morning. You are watching a

:30:06. > :30:12.slightly different editions this morning. There's been a major fire

:30:13. > :30:20.in a 24 story tower block in West London. Let's go live to the images.

:30:21. > :30:25.This is a wide shot of West London. It is in the Latimer Road area of

:30:26. > :30:31.west London. The block itself is called the Grenfell Tower. We know

:30:32. > :30:36.the tower has around 120 apartments. The blaze itself broke out in the

:30:37. > :30:40.early hours of this morning between 12 and one o'clock and very quickly

:30:41. > :30:44.took hold. Let's show you some of the images that were taken during

:30:45. > :30:49.the early hours of this morning. It will give you a sense of the scale

:30:50. > :30:55.of the blaze itself. This is a major fire. The London mayor has declared

:30:56. > :31:01.this a major incident. Streets all around have been sealed off and

:31:02. > :31:05.residents have been evacuated. In terms of injuries, London Ambulance

:31:06. > :31:10.Service says it is treating 30 people for injuries, not clear what

:31:11. > :31:13.those injuries are, but clearly there are many concerns about those

:31:14. > :31:18.residents in this apartment block. The fire breaking out in the early

:31:19. > :31:22.hours of this morning. We've spoken to a number of eyewitnesses and some

:31:23. > :31:25.of these reports we can't corroborate, but some people

:31:26. > :31:30.suggesting the fire may have broken out on the fourth floor of the

:31:31. > :31:33.apartment block, and in a very short space of time, the fire spread to

:31:34. > :31:39.the entire Let's give you an idea of the scale

:31:40. > :31:45.of the emergency services' reaction as well. More than 200 firefighters

:31:46. > :31:50.at the scene, 40 engines, many dozens of ambulances as well, a

:31:51. > :31:56.number of resources being sent to the scene. We can talk to Tim Downie

:31:57. > :32:02.who lives very close to the area. We should say, it's very near to the

:32:03. > :32:06.A40, the main road that runs to West London, which has been closed in

:32:07. > :32:10.both directions, Metropolitan police have told us. Tim, you've been

:32:11. > :32:14.observing what's been happening pretty much from two o'clock this

:32:15. > :32:20.morning, shortly after it was first reported. Yes, from about two. We

:32:21. > :32:24.were woken up by the sheer sound of fire engines and helicopters,

:32:25. > :32:29.shouting and screaming from people in the street - what on earth is

:32:30. > :32:33.going on? And to look out, pretty much where the tower is, the end of

:32:34. > :32:40.our road, and to see one whole side just up in flames from what I could

:32:41. > :32:44.see, from the ground to the very, very top - just a horrific sight,

:32:45. > :32:52.and something you do not expect to see. Yeah, just the smell, the

:32:53. > :32:56.smoke, and when the wind changed, the sounds of people just screaming

:32:57. > :33:03.and shouting, just trying to get out. We are very mindful that people

:33:04. > :33:09.are tuning in this morning into BBC News and hearing this for the first

:33:10. > :33:12.time this morning. There are obviously some very devastating and

:33:13. > :33:17.distressing scenes that you've witnessed, and bearing that in mind,

:33:18. > :33:22.as you were saying, but what could you see in terms of how people were

:33:23. > :33:26.being rescued or how they were able to be evacuated from the building?

:33:27. > :33:32.There didn't seem to be any ladders on the outside. I don't know if that

:33:33. > :33:36.had just to do with how hot it was, and it was incredibly hot. Even from

:33:37. > :33:41.where we were, you could feel the heat. How the firefighters could go

:33:42. > :33:52.into the building to bring them out in ... People, if they got out early

:33:53. > :33:56.and quick, then from the very top floors, that was the best thing to

:33:57. > :34:00.do, but if it was any later than that, then I dread to think how on

:34:01. > :34:05.earth they would have got out. I know people did get out, but how

:34:06. > :34:14.they even got in... It was raging, the fire was just raging around, so

:34:15. > :34:18.how on earth they got anybody out is a miracle. Of course there is much

:34:19. > :34:23.speculation at the moment, but we should indicate that there are some

:34:24. > :34:28.speculations the emergency services were alerted to the fire very

:34:29. > :34:32.quickly because there's a strong Muslim community, and it's of course

:34:33. > :34:36.Ramadan, and fasting and breaking eating very late, so could notify

:34:37. > :34:42.the emergency services. Tim, you lived not far from this tower block

:34:43. > :34:45.at Latimer Road. Tell me what the community is like, the kind of

:34:46. > :34:52.people living in this tower block. We understand many families live

:34:53. > :34:56.there. Many families. Many families. We saw people holding children out

:34:57. > :35:04.of windows to try and catch them below. The community itself - it's a

:35:05. > :35:08.very densely populated area, and the community itself has really pulled

:35:09. > :35:13.together. We were all out getting water for people that are coming

:35:14. > :35:18.out. The local shop opened up and we just took all the water out of that

:35:19. > :35:22.and we took that down to the court, people bringing coats and clothes,

:35:23. > :35:27.people wearing just what they were standing up in. But it's what people

:35:28. > :35:35.do. Something as horrendous as this, you help, and everyone has helped,

:35:36. > :35:39.everyone has pulled together. Where have people been directed to? We've

:35:40. > :35:44.heard from many people in fact, this sense of community in the area, but

:35:45. > :35:50.where have people been directed to as a holding area while this is

:35:51. > :35:55.sorted out? As far as I'm led to believe, there is a local church,

:35:56. > :35:59.the Latimer church, which is on the other side from where I am, the

:36:00. > :36:04.other side of the road, which a lot of people have been taken to.

:36:05. > :36:11.Friends that work at St Mary and the local hospital, some people have

:36:12. > :36:15.gone in with burns, but, because the roads are so narrow around here,

:36:16. > :36:19.getting in and out has been incredibly difficult, and incredibly

:36:20. > :36:23.difficult thing to do, so how they've got out I don't know, trying

:36:24. > :36:27.to get them over to the main roads would be the only thing I could

:36:28. > :36:32.think of. We are seeing pictures of the building now, and obviously a

:36:33. > :36:36.lot of smoke coming out of the building. We are not seeing flames

:36:37. > :36:40.at the moment. You are not far from there. Can you describe what you can

:36:41. > :36:45.see and the current situation you think we are at at the moment? At

:36:46. > :36:57.the moment, it's just billowing. The smoke is just... Just dreaming out.

:36:58. > :37:02.It's all over the place. Very acrid -- just pluming out. From the

:37:03. > :37:05.layman's points of view, it seems just a matter of time before it's

:37:06. > :37:11.compromised and it collapses. We were thinking that that three or

:37:12. > :37:16.four o'clock, when the smoke was coming out of it, and now it must

:37:17. > :37:20.just be a matter of time. I don't see how a building can withstand

:37:21. > :37:25.this much fire and devastation and remain standing. It's obviously a

:37:26. > :37:29.very distressing thing to witness, Tim Downie. We really appreciate you

:37:30. > :37:33.talking to us this morning and giving us your eyewitness account,

:37:34. > :37:39.and just to keep people updated, this is Grenfell Tower in West

:37:40. > :37:43.London, 24 story building which caught alight in the early hours of

:37:44. > :37:48.this morning, and firefighters have been tackling a major blaze. It's

:37:49. > :37:53.been described as a major incident by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.

:37:54. > :37:58.Let's bring you the official information at this stage. Not much

:37:59. > :38:02.from the London services but right now London Ambulance Service says

:38:03. > :38:07.five people have been taken to hospital following the fire. This is

:38:08. > :38:11.in North Kensington, a very built-up area of West London. We understand

:38:12. > :38:18.the first call to the emergency services was at 1:15am this morning,

:38:19. > :38:23.and very quickly in a short space of time - maybe we can see some of the

:38:24. > :38:28.nighttime images, eyewitnesses describing for us this morning a

:38:29. > :38:33.very quick sequence in which the fire absolutely engulfed the

:38:34. > :38:37.building, and early indications are, in terms of those people who lived

:38:38. > :38:42.in the building, there are 125 flats in the building itself -

:38:43. > :38:47.eyewitnesses say some people did manage to escape, particularly in

:38:48. > :38:51.the early hours of the blaze, and indeed one eyewitness telling us

:38:52. > :38:57.this morning as recently as 4:30am or 5am there were people still seem

:38:58. > :39:00.in the building, but in terms of the official injuries, we know that 30

:39:01. > :39:08.people have been taken to local hospitals by the London Ambulance

:39:09. > :39:13.Service. Let's go to our reporter, Tim Moffat, at the Latymer community

:39:14. > :39:19.Church, one of the places we understand people have been taken

:39:20. > :39:23.to. What can you tell us from there? People, as you can imagine, are

:39:24. > :39:27.gathering in a state of utter shock and despair, trying to take on board

:39:28. > :39:32.what has happened. Judith is with me. You live very close to the

:39:33. > :39:37.flats. Please describe what you saw. Sorry, I'm one of the local

:39:38. > :39:40.councillors. I've come here because I know almost everybody that lives

:39:41. > :39:44.in that block. That block has just had a massive refurbishment costing

:39:45. > :39:48.millions of pounds. After the refurbishment was finished, the gas

:39:49. > :39:53.board came along and said there is a bit of a problem with the gas and we

:39:54. > :39:55.want to replace some of the pipes. The residents asked for a fire

:39:56. > :39:59.inspection from the local fire brigade. This was carried out and

:40:00. > :40:04.they were told that everything was fine. Describe the atmosphere this

:40:05. > :40:10.morning while people try and take on board what happened. The atmosphere

:40:11. > :40:12.is that this is a very those knit community, multi-ethnic,

:40:13. > :40:18.multicultural, a lovely community. Everyone I've spoken to is

:40:19. > :40:21.completely traumatised and in shock. Most of the people including myself

:40:22. > :40:24.have friends who live in that building, relatives in that

:40:25. > :40:27.building, people who go to their churches and mosques in that

:40:28. > :40:32.building, and they don't know what's happened to them, and they are in

:40:33. > :40:37.despair. Judith, thank you. We can see some of the other people who are

:40:38. > :40:40.gathering. As we've been talking, people have been bringing bags of

:40:41. > :40:45.clothes which they've grabbed as they've come out of the flats. The

:40:46. > :40:53.smoke as you can see is still billowing from just above me. I

:40:54. > :41:01.might be able to talk to this lady. Can you describe what you've seen?

:41:02. > :41:07.Of course. I'm Sister Ruth, a Catholic nun. I'm 76. I've been in

:41:08. > :41:10.nearly every country in the world working for charity. Now I live in

:41:11. > :41:14.the old people 's home right opposite the building on fire. I was

:41:15. > :41:19.shocked and appalled when I turned on the news to see the terrible

:41:20. > :41:23.blaze. I couldn't believe it. Though I came out immediately to pray with

:41:24. > :41:27.people and comfort them because some of the people here know people

:41:28. > :41:31.inside the building. I don't personally but I've met people who

:41:32. > :41:35.do, so I've been praying and comforting them. I've worked with

:41:36. > :41:41.all the churches, the Methodist and ' church, the Salvation Army, and

:41:42. > :41:44.I've come to the Latimer Christian Centre to give out tea and coffee to

:41:45. > :41:48.the people who have been evacuated and to comfort people who know

:41:49. > :41:52.people who are in the building who are missing, and could be dead or

:41:53. > :41:56.injured, so it's shocking, but the rescue services are working very

:41:57. > :42:02.hard. We have to pray very hard. It's shocking. Thank you for talking

:42:03. > :42:07.to us. We hope as the morning comes along, we can send some good news

:42:08. > :42:11.what's happened. A desperate situation at the moment. I will turn

:42:12. > :42:18.around here and have a chat once more to Julius, the local councillor

:42:19. > :42:21.we spoke to. -- Judith. Can you describe what you've heard about any

:42:22. > :42:26.numbers of people that have come out? We haven't had any update at

:42:27. > :42:31.all. It still seems to be quite vague. I sit on the fire authority

:42:32. > :42:39.as well as being the MP here. I haven't been a councillor for very

:42:40. > :42:43.long but I sit on the fire authority. That's all I can say. We

:42:44. > :42:47.have a lot of concerns about moving older people out of tower blocks

:42:48. > :42:52.when something happens. I've no idea what has happened but this has been

:42:53. > :42:57.a concern for a long time. I've had three fires in tower blocks in my

:42:58. > :43:01.ward. Including Trellick Tower. There's over 140 flats and it takes

:43:02. > :43:09.an average of three or four people per flat. That's one hell of a lot

:43:10. > :43:14.of people. Lovely people. I can't do multiplication... What can you

:43:15. > :43:18.possibly do? People are very distressed. I've had calls from

:43:19. > :43:22.people in other community centres who don't know what's going on. I

:43:23. > :43:26.will go down and see if I can get any information but I'm waiting for

:43:27. > :43:30.my call from the fire authority. We have the comfort people. This is a

:43:31. > :43:34.lovely community, the whole community, not just the one tower

:43:35. > :43:39.block, and everybody is traumatised about it. I have friends. I saw them

:43:40. > :43:43.fortunately this morning, they'd escaped. They went round to their

:43:44. > :43:50.mother's. Good to see them, but there are so many children. It's

:43:51. > :43:53.going to be a major tragedy, I fear. Just looking around, you can see

:43:54. > :43:59.people who are clearly absolutely devastated. Is there an advice for

:44:00. > :44:06.people together in a certain place or something like that? The council

:44:07. > :44:10.set up four respite centres and a church and local community centre,

:44:11. > :44:14.and that's where people who are not in hospital have been gathering. The

:44:15. > :44:19.details are being checked - did you live in the tower, do you know about

:44:20. > :44:24.your neighbours? That sort of thing. Thank you. People clearly very

:44:25. > :44:31.distressed. If we have any more updates, we will bring them to you.

:44:32. > :44:44.Grenfell Tower in -- on Latimer Road. This is near the A40, the main

:44:45. > :44:50.road into that side of west London. That has been closed in both

:44:51. > :44:53.directions, we understand from the Metropolitan police. The scale of

:44:54. > :45:00.the emergency services' response, more than 40 fire engines, 200 fire

:45:01. > :45:04.officers were called to the estate in north Kensington this morning.

:45:05. > :45:07.The London Fire Brigade has issued a statement and says it received

:45:08. > :45:14.multiple calls. The fire was from the second floor to the top of the

:45:15. > :45:18.building. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus have been

:45:19. > :45:22.working very hard. They say in very difficult conditions to tackle the

:45:23. > :45:27.fire. They say they have deployed numerous resources and specialist

:45:28. > :45:31.appliances. Times are coming through and being clarified. The fire began

:45:32. > :45:38.just after midnight. The brigade was called about six minutes before 1am

:45:39. > :45:43.and are still at the scene. Fire crews from north Kensington,

:45:44. > :45:46.Hammersmith, Paddington and surrounding fire stations are in

:45:47. > :45:51.attendance. We should be clear that the cause of the fire is not known

:45:52. > :45:55.at this stage. We will be staying with this story throughout the

:45:56. > :45:59.morning and we will be right up there in a few minutes to bring you

:46:00. > :46:04.the latest information. Now the weather forecast.

:46:05. > :46:09.We have got a hot day to come. Lots of sunshine around and it will feel

:46:10. > :46:12.humid. We've had a bit of mist on us around this morning. This is the

:46:13. > :46:17.view in Derbyshire, but that's clearing away. High pressure is the

:46:18. > :46:21.driving force. It is sitting out in the near continent. Low pressure is

:46:22. > :46:26.approaching from the Atlantic, introducing more cloud across

:46:27. > :46:30.Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some outbreaks of rain on the far

:46:31. > :46:36.north-west. For much of the UK it is hot, sunny and dry, with light

:46:37. > :46:39.winds. In the afternoon there could be a couple of showers breaking out

:46:40. > :46:44.across parts of northern England. And over the Pennines. If you catch

:46:45. > :46:50.a shower it could be heavy and thundery, but they are pretty hit

:46:51. > :46:56.and miss. In Leeds, about 24. That hot sunshine continues further

:46:57. > :47:01.south. In London, 26- 28. Cooler if you are around the coast. Around 18

:47:02. > :47:07.degrees in Plymouth. High UV levels today. Also high pollen levels.

:47:08. > :47:14.Sunny and dry weather continues across Wales and across the Irish

:47:15. > :47:19.Sea. More cloud, but are largely dry day. Possibly the odd spot of rain

:47:20. > :47:24.creeping into the far north-west. Some rain for the Northern Isles and

:47:25. > :47:27.Western Isles of Scotland. Further south and east across much of

:47:28. > :47:32.Scotland we bill have dry weather, with sunshine breaking through. A

:47:33. > :47:36.largely dry and hot day through the evening hours. Feeling warm and

:47:37. > :47:42.mighty overnight, especially in central and eastern parts of the

:47:43. > :47:46.country. From the west we will have fresher conditions working on. We

:47:47. > :47:51.have this cold front during Thursday which will move its way in from the

:47:52. > :47:55.west. It will introduce a fresher feel to the weather across Northern

:47:56. > :48:01.Ireland, Scotland. Late on Thursday in the western parts of England and

:48:02. > :48:04.Wales. More cloud creeping into the south-east and east Anglia on

:48:05. > :48:08.Thursday afternoon. A fresher feel by the time we get to the middle of

:48:09. > :48:15.tomorrow. Temperatures still up to about 60- 24 Celsius, so another

:48:16. > :48:18.warm day -- 16. On the Friday and again it will be a little bit

:48:19. > :48:23.cloudier in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with a chance of a couple

:48:24. > :48:26.of showers. More breezy. Further south, another day of warm sunshine.

:48:27. > :48:29.Into the weekend, temperatures creeping up. We could have 28

:48:30. > :48:41.degrees by Sunday. You are watching a different edition

:48:42. > :48:47.of BBC Breakfast this morning. There has been a major higher in west

:48:48. > :48:53.London at a tower block, a 24 storey tower block, on Latimer Road. The

:48:54. > :48:56.fire service got the first phone call at about six minutes before 1am

:48:57. > :48:58.this morning and have since been dealing with this serious blaze in

:48:59. > :49:03.west London. Still a lot of confusion in terms of

:49:04. > :49:08.the casualties. This is the information we know. There were 140

:49:09. > :49:12.flats in all in the building. We think up to 500 people living in

:49:13. > :49:15.those flights. The blaze broke out in the early hours of the morning.

:49:16. > :49:21.We know from the London Ambulance Service that 30 people have been

:49:22. > :49:26.taken to five hospitals following the fire. Is the Grenfell Tower,

:49:27. > :49:31.that's the name of the tower, in north Kensington. More than 200

:49:32. > :49:35.firefighters sent to the scene. We've been hearing from eyewitnesses

:49:36. > :49:38.this morning, who described how quickly the blaze engulfed the

:49:39. > :49:42.building. I think we can show you some of the images from the early

:49:43. > :49:46.hours of the morning, to give you a sense of the blaze when it was at

:49:47. > :49:49.its height. The indications we are getting from some eyewitnesses is

:49:50. > :49:54.that the fire initially started between the second or the fourth

:49:55. > :50:02.floor. There have been reports of an explosion early on and then you can

:50:03. > :50:06.see the scale of the blaze that overtook the entire building. We are

:50:07. > :50:11.hearing from the London Ambulance Service, that a number of people

:50:12. > :50:16.have been taken to local hospitals, also people gathering in a number of

:50:17. > :50:20.community centres nearby and being helped by the emergency services and

:50:21. > :50:25.by neighbours. The area immediately surrounding the building has been

:50:26. > :50:31.evacuated amidst fears now that the building itself may collapse.

:50:32. > :50:35.We are going to keep you up-to-date with the state of the building, what

:50:36. > :50:38.emergency services are doing. At the moment they are still tackling the

:50:39. > :50:42.blaze on the lower floors, with water cannon, going into the

:50:43. > :50:46.building in an attempt to dampen down the flames and protect as much

:50:47. > :50:53.of the building as they can. We are seeing images of a charred and

:50:54. > :50:58.devastated building. Eyewitnesses saying that there is a big concern

:50:59. > :51:03.now about the actual safety of the building and how long it will remain

:51:04. > :51:08.in wrecked. People in surrounding areas have been evacuated from their

:51:09. > :51:13.homes. -- remain erect. Their safety is of course extremely paramount. We

:51:14. > :51:19.can speak to our correspondent Andy Moore. Tell us where you are and

:51:20. > :51:22.what you are seeing. We are hearing many reports of people being

:51:23. > :51:29.evacuated to several areas around the area? I am about 500 yards away

:51:30. > :51:34.from the building, standing by the camera, I think you can see the

:51:35. > :51:38.pictures at the moment, where there is a fire hose on the right-hand

:51:39. > :51:44.side of the building, up towards the building. The fire is still burning

:51:45. > :51:48.in places. It is a lot less fierce than when we first arrived for five

:51:49. > :51:53.hours ago. The latest update we have from the emergency services is from

:51:54. > :52:01.the ambulance service, saying they have taken 30 people to hospital.

:52:02. > :52:06.Five different hospitals. A range of injuries. We don't know precisely

:52:07. > :52:11.what sorts of injuries. We've had no update other than that from the

:52:12. > :52:15.emergency services. What we are beginning to hear are disturbing

:52:16. > :52:19.eyewitness reports of people at windows screaming for help, people

:52:20. > :52:24.signalling with their mobile phones, people actually jumping from the

:52:25. > :52:29.building. The BBC has heard from one eyewitness who was inside. He said

:52:30. > :52:35.he didn't hear a fire alarm sounding as he came down the building and he

:52:36. > :52:39.saw the fire service with their breathing apparatus actually coming

:52:40. > :52:43.in as he went out. We did see in the early hours of the morning one

:52:44. > :52:47.person at a window inside the tower block. You can see perhaps down on

:52:48. > :52:51.the left-hand side there is one section of the tower block that

:52:52. > :52:55.hasn't been burnt out. We saw somebody briefly at a window there

:52:56. > :52:59.and they went back into the flat and then came back again. Didn't see

:53:00. > :53:03.them after that, so we are hoping that the fire service were able to

:53:04. > :53:06.get up the stairwell inside the building and rescue that particular

:53:07. > :53:13.person. We can understand the extent of this fire. We are still seeing

:53:14. > :53:18.flames, from the building as firefighters are tackling it and

:53:19. > :53:22.from floors pretty high up as well. Have you been able to speak to

:53:23. > :53:26.anyone who was around in the early hours of the morning when it first

:53:27. > :53:32.began Betts you did mention that some people said they didn't hear a

:53:33. > :53:37.fire alarm? I haven't spoken to that person myself. The BBC has done an

:53:38. > :53:41.interview with that particular person. They were looking on the

:53:42. > :53:46.seventh floor of the building and they say they work up because of the

:53:47. > :53:50.smell of smoke. There in mind this was just before one a.m.. That

:53:51. > :53:55.person didn't hear a fire alarm. Whether it was going off in another

:53:56. > :54:00.part of the building we don't know. So I haven't spoken to people

:54:01. > :54:04.directly in the building. People who live around have spoken to people

:54:05. > :54:08.nearer the building and as I say I haven't heard these accounts myself.

:54:09. > :54:13.These are second-hand and people are worried about people who were

:54:14. > :54:18.apparently trapped inside the building. According to some

:54:19. > :54:23.eyewitnesses people were actually jumping from the building. So we

:54:24. > :54:30.know about 30 people have been taken to hospital, but there are grave

:54:31. > :54:36.fears that there could be more casualties. To be clear, the reports

:54:37. > :54:42.we are getting at the moment, all we can confirm is that 30 patients have

:54:43. > :54:49.been taken to five hospitals and, as you implied, of course the concern

:54:50. > :54:53.is now how many may have perished in the fire and the idea that there are

:54:54. > :54:59.still people perhaps trapped in the building. We also understand that

:55:00. > :55:04.people have been moved to areas around certain centres. Can you give

:55:05. > :55:08.us a scale of how many people who were in the area are outside this

:55:09. > :55:11.cordon and of course how this cordon is probably increasing in size as

:55:12. > :55:16.there are concerns about the stability of the building? That's

:55:17. > :55:22.right. There have been concerns about the stability of the building

:55:23. > :55:25.since the early hours of the morning when we arrived. Police pushed back

:55:26. > :55:30.the cordon with some urgency, shouting to people. They were afraid

:55:31. > :55:34.that the building might collapse. Apart from that there was debris

:55:35. > :55:41.falling from the building, which was a danger to people around. So the

:55:42. > :55:44.cordon has been pushed back, we are something like 500 yards away from

:55:45. > :55:48.the building. So I haven't seen with my own eyes people being taken to

:55:49. > :55:54.this respite centres, so I can't speak to that. What I can speak to

:55:55. > :56:00.is the pictures you can see at the moment of the fire still being

:56:01. > :56:05.fought. There is actually a platform on the right-hand side of the

:56:06. > :56:09.picture with a hose on the building. There is no firefighter that I can

:56:10. > :56:13.see in that platform. It's actually just moving at the moment. It is one

:56:14. > :56:19.of these automatic platforms that is controlled from the ground. Thank

:56:20. > :56:22.you very much, Andy Moore. Our correspondent on the ground. We will

:56:23. > :56:28.keep you up-to-date with what's happening. This is Grenfell Tower,

:56:29. > :56:33.Latimer Road, in west London near Notting Hill, where a blaze broke

:56:34. > :56:37.out early this morning. 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters have

:56:38. > :56:41.been deployed to the scene. We understand 30 people so far have

:56:42. > :56:44.been taken to hospital. We understand that from the London

:56:45. > :00:04.Ambulance Service. We will keep you updated.

:00:05. > :00:06.at the Grenfell tower block in West London

:00:07. > :00:09.throughout the morning, here on BBC London News.

:00:10. > :00:16.News, with Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty.

:00:17. > :00:19.A major incident is declared as a huge fire engulfs

:00:20. > :00:25.Firefighters are tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower near Notting Hill,

:00:26. > :00:30.local reports say that residents are trapped in the building.

:00:31. > :00:48.are at the scene, along with 40 fire engines.

:00:49. > :00:57.Let's go straight to that major fire in a 27-storey tower block

:00:58. > :01:00.These are the shocking live pictures this

:01:01. > :01:05.morning from the north Kensington area of London.

:01:06. > :01:11.The London mayor Sadiq Khan has declared it a major emergency.

:01:12. > :01:14.This is the Grenfell Tower, a 27-floor block of flats,

:01:15. > :01:17.which if you know that part of London is close

:01:18. > :01:33.More than 200 firefighters and some 40 five engines are at the scene.

:01:34. > :01:36.Emergency services were called at 12:55am.

:01:37. > :01:40.Dozens of ambulances have been called through the night,

:01:41. > :01:43.and the London Ambulance service say they have taken 30 patients

:01:44. > :01:48.That is the latest figure on casualties so far.

:01:49. > :01:51.We don't have full details on casualties but hundreds of people

:01:52. > :02:04.140 flats in all. There may be up to 500 people living in the building.

:02:05. > :02:07.who is at the Latymer Community Church.

:02:08. > :02:14.That's where people have been sent to who have been evacuated from

:02:15. > :02:18.their homes. Good morning, Tim. People gathering here in a state of

:02:19. > :02:23.utter shock, trying to come to terms with what has happened. Some

:02:24. > :02:28.horrendous tales of events overnight. You were on the seventh

:02:29. > :02:32.floor, what happened? It was around 1:30 a.m., I'm in bed with my

:02:33. > :02:35.girlfriend, she is bus to sleep, along with her little girl, I'm

:02:36. > :02:41.drifting in and out of consciousness and I smell plastic, I'm jumping up

:02:42. > :02:45.because I'm worried about devices, everything is OK but I still smell

:02:46. > :02:49.the smell. I went into the kitchen, open the window and lit a cigarette,

:02:50. > :02:53.as I was doing that I heard shouting, I heard someone say it was

:02:54. > :02:58.getting bigger so there's something seriously wrong I thought. I look

:02:59. > :03:01.through the front door and eyes see the smoke and the neighbours are

:03:02. > :03:06.running out and saying to get downstairs -- icy. I have gone

:03:07. > :03:09.inside. I put my dressing gown on, grabbed the little girl, got my

:03:10. > :03:16.girlfriend Ayn Rand down the stairs. Our advice was if there's a fire

:03:17. > :03:23.stayed in your flat. If we had stayed in we would have perished. It

:03:24. > :03:27.spread like wildfire, the block of flats is covered in cladding. The

:03:28. > :03:31.smoke alarm was useless, people heard nothing. I could only hear it

:03:32. > :03:36.in the hallway, not in the flat. Horrendous, people screaming out of

:03:37. > :03:41.their windows and it went up like in seconds, going up and up, I've never

:03:42. > :03:46.seen anything like it, something out of a Hollywood disaster movie! Do

:03:47. > :03:51.you know other people who got out? I saw my neighbour who got out luckily

:03:52. > :03:59.enough, I saw my neighbour on the 22nd floor, she got out. There were

:04:00. > :04:02.kids screaming up at windows and smashing windows, explosions going

:04:03. > :04:07.off, I'm shaken still, I can't believe it, I'm in shock, just

:04:08. > :04:10.grateful I got us out of there. If we had stayed we would have

:04:11. > :04:14.perished. Do you know how many people live in the block of flats?

:04:15. > :04:21.There's 25 floors and six flats on each floor. Some are 1-bedroom, some

:04:22. > :04:30.are two, three, four. There's a wide-ranging of rooms in the flats.

:04:31. > :04:34.We hear there was some gas works taking place? A few weeks ago there

:04:35. > :04:39.was a local resident under tenancies saying they would come round and

:04:40. > :04:43.change everything to gas, I said it was all right, I'd use electricity

:04:44. > :04:48.anyway, but I did see them working on the stairwell but not on our flat

:04:49. > :04:54.but eyes saw it going on over the weeks. There were explosions going

:04:55. > :05:01.off. There was blue flames, which dropped me. Gas! -- which struck me.

:05:02. > :05:05.Could you help anyone else? I was concentrating on the little girl and

:05:06. > :05:11.my girlfriend. I was in my boxer shorts, no shoes, nothing, there was

:05:12. > :05:16.a lady with a bin bag, trousers and shoes in there because everyone is

:05:17. > :05:20.running out in their bedclothes. It was just horrendous. I'm hoping to

:05:21. > :05:24.God not too many people have perished. We have seen people

:05:25. > :05:28.gathering this morning, clearly utterly traumatised, as you are of

:05:29. > :05:33.course as well. What have other people said about their stories?

:05:34. > :05:37.Everyone is in shock, there's tears, there's people searching for people,

:05:38. > :05:41.pictures out, a lot of kids from the school nearby are missing. A lot of

:05:42. > :05:47.young kids and old people living in the block. It went right up, there

:05:48. > :05:53.weren't no stopping it. The speed has really... Yeah, it was like

:05:54. > :05:57.pyrotechnic speed. I think it was all down to the cladding they have

:05:58. > :06:01.put on the block with plastic that has gone all the way up in seconds.

:06:02. > :06:05.And there's fire engines... There was about eight or nine fire engines

:06:06. > :06:09.but only two were operating and people were saying get up there to

:06:10. > :06:14.get to those people, screaming, someone jumped out from the fifth

:06:15. > :06:18.floor and landed but she was OK. Absolute nightmare. Appreciate you

:06:19. > :06:25.talking to us, thank you very much indeed, so glad you got out. One

:06:26. > :06:29.harrowing tale of what happened to one person but sadly I fear there

:06:30. > :06:33.will be many more stories like that as the day goes on.

:06:34. > :06:37.That's obviously what we are all fearing this morning. Tim, thanks

:06:38. > :06:41.very much. For those of you just tune in into BBC News, we are

:06:42. > :06:46.bringing you reports of a tower block fire in West London which

:06:47. > :06:47.began in the early hours of this morning.

:06:48. > :06:53.We were hearing an eyewitness account from Nicky, who was in the

:06:54. > :07:01.flat and managed to escape with his partner and his daughter. Describing

:07:02. > :07:06.a harrowing tale of flames, the building engulfed by flames, we are

:07:07. > :07:10.still seeing flames in the building, firefighters have been tackling this

:07:11. > :07:13.blaze, more than 200 of them, 45 fire engines deployed, they are

:07:14. > :07:19.still tackling the blaze with water cannon as you can see and helping

:07:20. > :07:24.the evacuation procedure, getting as many people out of the flat as

:07:25. > :07:27.possible. In terms of injuries, these are London from the London

:07:28. > :07:32.ambulance service, 30 people had been taken to hospitals in London

:07:33. > :07:38.who have been affected by the fire. As you look at the images, the image

:07:39. > :07:43.on the right, both of these are live images now actually, this is West

:07:44. > :07:49.London, a very built-up area of west London, Latimer Road. The building

:07:50. > :07:53.is called the Grenfell Tower, a 27-storey tower in North Kensington,

:07:54. > :07:58.an area familiar to many, the A40 running close by. Shepherds Bush not

:07:59. > :08:02.far away, Notting Hill Gate and Portobello Road, this is the area. A

:08:03. > :08:08.very built-up area. The streets surrounding the building have been

:08:09. > :08:12.evacuated because there is a real risk the building itself could

:08:13. > :08:17.collapse. You can see the image on the right, the smoke coming from the

:08:18. > :08:23.building and if you look closely you can still see until recently flames

:08:24. > :08:27.within the building itself. We understand from those who know the

:08:28. > :08:33.building well there are around 140 flats in all in the apartment block.

:08:34. > :08:37.They think maybe four or five people per flat, many families, we were

:08:38. > :08:41.just hearing from Nicky a few moments ago, many young families and

:08:42. > :08:45.many older people living in the building. Here in fact was on the

:08:46. > :08:48.seventh floor and he was just recounting to us that he got early

:08:49. > :08:52.indications of the smell of smoke and then managed to make his escape,

:08:53. > :08:57.and taking with him and his young daughter. Managed to get to save

:08:58. > :09:02.the. He said some people did but he has real concerns. We can't give you

:09:03. > :09:05.any information at this stage about the number of people who have been

:09:06. > :09:10.safely evacuated -- get to safety. They are being helped in a number of

:09:11. > :09:14.centres in the nearby area and the only information the London Aplon

:09:15. > :09:18.service has at the moment is 30 people have been taken to local

:09:19. > :09:22.hospitals -- London ambulance service. At this stage we have no

:09:23. > :09:28.information about the cause of the fire. London Fire Brigade has made

:09:29. > :09:33.that very clear too. To recap, the A40, as John mentioned, the main

:09:34. > :09:37.roads has been closed in both directions so say police. The cordon

:09:38. > :09:41.has been widening around the Grenfell Tower this morning as there

:09:42. > :09:46.are concerns about the stability of the building. Flames still being

:09:47. > :09:49.tackled inside the building as you can see. We can talk to Andy Moore,

:09:50. > :09:57.our correspondent at the scene. You are about 500 metres away from

:09:58. > :10:06.the tower block, and the? That's right. You can see the bottom

:10:07. > :10:11.of the building and a helicopter landing in the vicinity at the

:10:12. > :10:15.moment -- Andy. You can see some flames coming out of the building

:10:16. > :10:20.but most of the fire has burned itself out over the course of the

:10:21. > :10:24.last six hours. When we arrived in the early hours, probably around

:10:25. > :10:31.2am, you could see the fire from some distance. The tower block was

:10:32. > :10:35.alight from top to bottom. According to the fire service, it is a

:10:36. > :10:41.27-storey building, according to other reports it is 24 storeys but

:10:42. > :10:45.as you can see it is a tall building with a lot of flats and we presume

:10:46. > :10:50.hundreds of people were in there when the fire started, which was

:10:51. > :10:54.about 12:55am. The BBC heard from some people saying they didn't hear

:10:55. > :10:59.any fire alarms, they woke up to the sound of smoke. We've heard

:11:00. > :11:03.disturbing reports about people banging on windows and screaming.

:11:04. > :11:07.Some reports of people jumping out of windows. None of that has been

:11:08. > :11:13.confirmed yet by the emergency services. But certainly very

:11:14. > :11:17.worrying stories. What we know officially from the ambulance

:11:18. > :11:22.service is 30 patients have been taken to hospitals, five different

:11:23. > :11:27.hospitals, with a range of different injuries but we've got no details on

:11:28. > :11:31.that at the moment. Andy, thanks very much, and we will keep you up

:11:32. > :11:36.to the with our correspondents on the ground but as Andy said, and we

:11:37. > :11:40.should warn viewers tuning in this morning, there are some distressing

:11:41. > :11:44.accounts coming in from eyewitnesses and our correspondents regarding

:11:45. > :11:50.this fire at the Grenfell Tower block. Our normal programme has been

:11:51. > :11:55.changed because of this major incident in West London. This is a

:11:56. > :12:00.27-storey building in West London in Latimer Road, the block itself is

:12:01. > :12:03.called the Grenfell Tower and it was engulfed in flames in the early

:12:04. > :12:07.hours of this morning. The live images you can see this morning, you

:12:08. > :12:11.can see the smoke still billowing from the building. We're getting

:12:12. > :12:15.updates from our correspondent is nearby, we can speak to Tim Muffet

:12:16. > :12:21.at one of the centres people are being taken to. What stories are you

:12:22. > :12:25.hearing -- correspondents. Some horrendous stories. Tamara and

:12:26. > :12:31.Samira, you were close by, what did you see? Around 12:30 a.m., nearly

:12:32. > :12:35.1am, my mom called me and said there was a fire outside and we went

:12:36. > :12:40.outside but by the time I got there the whole right side of the building

:12:41. > :12:44.was on fire, engulfed in flames, people were screaming help me, help

:12:45. > :12:48.me, so me and my brother and others who live in the area ran over to the

:12:49. > :12:51.estate, we could still get underneath it and people were

:12:52. > :12:56.throwing their kids out to save their children. The ambulance and

:12:57. > :12:59.the Fire Brigade and the police couldn't do anything, they couldn't

:13:00. > :13:03.get in, they were saying to stay where they were, we will come and

:13:04. > :13:08.get you. Things quickly escalated beyond measure and they couldn't go

:13:09. > :13:12.back in and get them, it was too much to hold. Within another 15

:13:13. > :13:16.minutes the whole thing was up in flames. And people were at their

:13:17. > :13:20.windows saying help me, help me, you could see the fire going into the

:13:21. > :13:30.house and the last room they were in. Engulfing their whole apartment.

:13:31. > :13:34.Samira, what did you see? It escalated very quickly. Around

:13:35. > :13:38.midnight, it was only around the third floor and before you knew it

:13:39. > :13:42.the whole 23 floors of the building were all on fire. There was people

:13:43. > :13:47.screaming for help and obviously throwing kids out. I think everyone

:13:48. > :13:51.felt really helpless because obviously no one could get to them

:13:52. > :13:56.and everyone was really scared and they didn't know what to do. It was

:13:57. > :14:01.really sad to see. These are all people who we grew up with and

:14:02. > :14:05.people who we see every day that are our neighbours and there were little

:14:06. > :14:10.kids there, elderly people, disabled people, there were a lot of people

:14:11. > :14:15.there, family members, thankfully family members did make it out but

:14:16. > :14:18.there's still a lot of people that were there... Especially my brother

:14:19. > :14:21.and loads of his school friends, they are still wondering if their

:14:22. > :14:27.friends made it out, they haven't heard from them. One of the girls,

:14:28. > :14:32.she lives on the top floor, which was according to the police and the

:14:33. > :14:35.fire Brigade, if you live on the top floor that means you have more time

:14:36. > :14:40.but they haven't made it. Talking about the speed at which the flames

:14:41. > :14:44.took hold, did that strike you? That's the most shocking thing to

:14:45. > :14:48.everyone, how quick it literally went from zero to 100. It was

:14:49. > :14:54.literally just the fourth floor and it was bad but it was very minor.

:14:55. > :14:59.That building's really big, it literally escalated so quickly and

:15:00. > :15:03.that is what shocked people the most, how quickly it happened, the

:15:04. > :15:08.whole building was literally gone before... It didn't hit 1am even and

:15:09. > :15:13.the whole building was literally in flames. Did you see people getting

:15:14. > :15:17.out? I saw people flying out of their balconies and their windows,

:15:18. > :15:21.literally I saw a man who flew out of his window, I saw kids screaming

:15:22. > :15:26.for help, people jumping out, so we saw a lot of people jumping out that

:15:27. > :15:31.basically didn't make it obviously. It was from the eighth floor and up

:15:32. > :15:35.so obviously that kind of fall you wouldn't really make it. I had a

:15:36. > :15:39.family friend who was stuck until 5am in the house but luckily she

:15:40. > :15:42.made it out and others from her floor and the floors below made it

:15:43. > :15:47.out. There's people who were higher up that they couldn't get to. The

:15:48. > :15:52.flames just got out of control so quickly. It was split decision, a

:15:53. > :15:57.split second and then it was like the whole building was on fire. We

:15:58. > :16:02.started on one floor and then we took one side and the whole building

:16:03. > :16:10.and there's nothing you can do. You couldn't do anything but watch what

:16:11. > :16:14.was unfolding. Will you aware of any concerns before about safety issues?

:16:15. > :16:19.I didn't know anything. The building, they built a new school,

:16:20. > :16:23.they knocked down the leisure centre and build a new one. So at the time

:16:24. > :16:28.I didn't personally know about anything that happened. Literally it

:16:29. > :16:35.was around just before 12 o'clock I was actually a wake and I went to

:16:36. > :16:40.bed and not even 45... 30 minutes later I woke up to flames, so it

:16:41. > :16:44.happened very quickly. Thank you so much for talking to us. We are very

:16:45. > :16:50.glad you made it safely to where you are now. They give a talking to us.

:16:51. > :16:56.Two very harrowing accounts from the Latimer Church, where people are

:16:57. > :17:00.gathering. Thank you very much. We will keep

:17:01. > :17:04.you up-to-date with what's going on. The pictures you are seeing off the

:17:05. > :17:10.Grenfell Tower block in west London, Ian Notting Hill. Firefighters are

:17:11. > :17:13.tackling a blaze at the block, which began in the early hours of the

:17:14. > :17:21.morning. The first reports were shortly before 1am. This 27 storey

:17:22. > :17:26.building housing up to we think around 500 people. Family, elderly,

:17:27. > :17:32.who have been escaping throughout the evening. We understand from

:17:33. > :17:36.London Ambulance Service that 30 people have been taken to hospitals

:17:37. > :17:41.in London so far. More than 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines

:17:42. > :17:46.have been deployed to the scene to tackle the blaze.

:17:47. > :17:51.It is worth saying as we build you -- bring you this special programme

:17:52. > :17:54.that we are hearing very harrowing accounts from eyewitnesses about the

:17:55. > :17:59.sequence of in the early hours of the morning. There are no official

:18:00. > :18:02.details as to how the fire started at the moment, but from the

:18:03. > :18:06.eyewitnesses we are speaking to the picture seems to be emerging that

:18:07. > :18:09.the fire seems to have begun on the lower floors, maybe the fourth

:18:10. > :18:13.floor. This has been mentioned several times, that there may have

:18:14. > :18:18.been some kind of explosion. But the early signs of the fire, it would

:18:19. > :18:22.appear, started on the lower floors. But as you've been hearing from the

:18:23. > :18:27.eyewitnesses and from a number of people we've spoken to this morning,

:18:28. > :18:30.it very quickly engulfed. These are the pictures from the early hours of

:18:31. > :18:35.the morning. Very quickly engulfing the whole building. We have heard of

:18:36. > :18:41.people managing to escape. We heard from an eyewitness a short time ago

:18:42. > :18:44.from one of those in the apartment block on the seventh floor. He was

:18:45. > :18:51.able to escape, having smelt some of the smoke and fumes. He asked what

:18:52. > :18:54.was going on and was able to escape. There are a number of stories of

:18:55. > :18:58.people emerging from the building, but many concerns over the number of

:18:59. > :19:02.casualties. Earlier we spoke to a man who lived

:19:03. > :19:06.on the seventh floor and also managed to escape from the building.

:19:07. > :19:10.I managed to get out of the building. Not by a fire alarm or

:19:11. > :19:17.something, it was by people down below screaming to people, don't

:19:18. > :19:22.jump from the building. Honestly, I don't know for certain if people

:19:23. > :19:28.jumped off the building to get away from the fire. But the main thing

:19:29. > :19:31.for me is the fact that the fire alarms didn't go off in the

:19:32. > :19:36.building. From the seventh floor where I was, I didn't hear any fire

:19:37. > :19:41.alarms whatsoever. I was obviously asleep, because I work early

:19:42. > :19:46.mornings, so I am fast asleep and if it wasn't for them people screaming

:19:47. > :19:51.I wouldn't have... I don't think I would have woken up and obviously...

:19:52. > :19:55.God knows what would have happened if I didn't get out of the building.

:19:56. > :20:00.That was Paul, giving us his eyewitness account. He lived on the

:20:01. > :20:04.seventh floor and managed to leave the tower once he heard people

:20:05. > :20:12.screaming for help. Live images you are looking at of

:20:13. > :20:18.the green felt tower. -- Grenfell Tower. We have been speaking to many

:20:19. > :20:24.witnesses. The fire started sometime between 12am and one a.m.. At about

:20:25. > :20:31.1am this morning I heard what sounded like shooting sounds. Bangs.

:20:32. > :20:38.I heard lots of police sirens. And then the number of police sirens and

:20:39. > :20:42.the length of the sirens extended and increased, but I realised this

:20:43. > :20:45.might be something serious. I looked out my window expecting to find

:20:46. > :20:50.people with guns but actually that was now what we know as the

:20:51. > :20:58.explosions which got louder. By a quarter past I have voted to look up

:20:59. > :21:05.rather than down. The building was in three parts. One column on the

:21:06. > :21:08.right hand side... By 1:30am I was down in front of the building. There

:21:09. > :21:13.were neighbours and other people nearby who had gathered down there

:21:14. > :21:16.and we watched the fire spread through the further columns and then

:21:17. > :21:20.completely engulfed the building. Especially the top part of the

:21:21. > :21:28.building. It burnt through. There were fumes and some of the flats are

:21:29. > :21:34.still ablaze. People were waving mobile phones, we noticed. Men were

:21:35. > :21:39.screaming extended calls for help. Little girls were screaming for

:21:40. > :21:45.help. It was just awful. And that's actually one of the things. It's

:21:46. > :21:49.very peculiar, but it was dead, the still of night, completely dark and

:21:50. > :21:53.silent and then I heard the banging sounds and then I heard people

:21:54. > :21:57.screaming for help as I was walking towards the building. I heard the

:21:58. > :22:03.sound intensify. But even from a window, and I lived across the road,

:22:04. > :22:08.I could hear people screaming for help in the dead of night. It was

:22:09. > :22:15.horrific, really dramatic. That was an eyewitness accounts from Sophia,

:22:16. > :22:20.who lives nearby to the tower block. We should warn you that there are

:22:21. > :22:24.many distressing eyewitness accounts, you will understand, from

:22:25. > :22:29.people who have escaped or were nearby the tower which went up in

:22:30. > :22:32.flames in the early hours of the morning. 27 storey building which is

:22:33. > :22:39.still being tackled by firefighters at the moment as they tried to bring

:22:40. > :22:43.the blaze under control. We can now speak to a BBC London reporter,

:22:44. > :22:49.Simon, who has been following the story. We understand there are

:22:50. > :22:54.details coming through but we understand the first call was made

:22:55. > :22:59.at about 12:55am this morning? That's right, 12:54am and we are

:23:00. > :23:08.trying to ascertain from various eyewitnesses we have been covering,

:23:09. > :23:14.since this first began, that it was about 12:50am. It has been

:23:15. > :23:18.confirmed. The problem and the concerns that many people locally

:23:19. > :23:22.have, not least the firefighters who are trying to deal with this, is

:23:23. > :23:26.that we now have a blaze that been ongoing for almost six or seven

:23:27. > :23:30.hours and the question is, how long can the integrity of our buildings

:23:31. > :23:35.survive? Huge concern also about the numbers of people still trapped

:23:36. > :23:40.inside. What do we know about how many people are trapped inside? Is

:23:41. > :23:44.that still confident? It is unclear. What we know is that 30 patients

:23:45. > :23:49.were taken to five hospitals. That's all I have. Even within that figure

:23:50. > :23:55.I don't know whether that's people outside who were hit by masonry or

:23:56. > :23:58.people who managed to get out of that building and then were taken to

:23:59. > :24:02.hospital. We know people who managed to leave the building, because we

:24:03. > :24:05.spoke to a number of eyewitnesses this morning we said exactly that.

:24:06. > :24:10.They buy to let themselves or they've got relatives who managed to

:24:11. > :24:16.get themselves. The remarkable story of one who was living very high up.

:24:17. > :24:21.We heard from her nephew. It was his aunt he was worried about, she had a

:24:22. > :24:24.heart condition. She was living towards the top of the tower, got

:24:25. > :24:30.out relatively early and is obviously in severe shock but has

:24:31. > :24:36.managed to get out alive. There are 120 flat, so there will be far more

:24:37. > :24:40.people than 120 in that block and many still unaccounted for. We

:24:41. > :24:46.understand the fire began about the fourth floor, but that's not yet

:24:47. > :24:52.been confirmed. But this is a 24- 27 storey building? The reason there's

:24:53. > :24:57.a slight discrepancy is if you go onto the architect's website, very

:24:58. > :25:04.recently, as I am sure you have heard this morning, the building

:25:05. > :25:11.itself was regenerated, refurbished, sometime ago. The architect's

:25:12. > :25:14.website talks about the 24 storey building but there are some

:25:15. > :25:21.additional parts to the building, which is why it has been referred to

:25:22. > :25:25.as 27 floors. 120 flats, numerous people in there. As part of the

:25:26. > :25:29.refurbishment the windows were changed, upgrades to the heating

:25:30. > :25:32.system, cladding placed on the outside. We can't link that

:25:33. > :25:37.refurbishment in any way to what has happened, but a question that many

:25:38. > :25:44.eyewitnesses have been asking is in April there was a fire that took

:25:45. > :25:47.place not very far away. It was caused by the disposal of a

:25:48. > :25:51.cigarette and it caused significant damage to the flat in the Florette

:25:52. > :25:56.was on IT didn't take all the same way that this fire has and as you

:25:57. > :26:03.say 12:54am was the first call to the fire services. Information we

:26:04. > :26:07.were getting, before 1:30 a.m., 1:45am, that building was already

:26:08. > :26:14.massively alight. Simon, thank you very much. You are watching our

:26:15. > :26:17.extended coverage this morning of what's been declared a major

:26:18. > :26:23.incident by the London mayor. This is Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road,

:26:24. > :26:29.in White City, west London. A 27 storey building. As you can see,

:26:30. > :26:34.live images, a major fire overnight. In terms of the timeline, the blaze

:26:35. > :26:41.started between 12am and 1am this morning. Some 500 people live in the

:26:42. > :26:42.flat. 30 people so far have been taken for treatment. We will keep

:26:43. > :30:02.you throughout the morning,

:30:03. > :30:08.here on BBC London News. Hello, this is Breakfast with

:30:09. > :30:11.Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty. A huge fire has raged

:30:12. > :30:14.through the night at a west London tower block, with eyewitnesses

:30:15. > :30:18.claiming people were trapped inside. More than 200 firefighters

:30:19. > :30:20.are still tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower in north

:30:21. > :30:23.Kensington, where hundreds of people London Ambulance said 30 people

:30:24. > :30:28.are receiving hospital treatment. We can speak now to Tim Muffett who

:30:29. > :30:46.is at the Latymer Community Church. I'm at Latimer community Church,

:30:47. > :30:49.close to the side of the blaze where people are gathering and talking to

:30:50. > :30:53.each other, they are shocked and overstated. People, you live

:30:54. > :30:59.opposite, what did you see? That's right, I woke up at about 1:30am to

:31:00. > :31:07.look across the road and to see the big Grenfell Tower in a Taringa

:31:08. > :31:11.Inferno, blaze, fire coming out of every window, windows smashing and

:31:12. > :31:19.exploding -- towering Inferno. People jumping out on fire. Jumping

:31:20. > :31:23.out of ropes they made out of bed sheets to climb out. Complete

:31:24. > :31:28.nightmare. Absolute nightmare. Paul, the people you have been speaking

:31:29. > :31:35.to, what else have they said? Everyone has been in such tears and

:31:36. > :31:39.upset, people who haven't got out and they are upset about how it has

:31:40. > :31:49.happened and how this catastrophe could happen in London after it has

:31:50. > :31:53.just been refurbished. Were their concerns raised about the safety

:31:54. > :31:58.aspect? Not that I know of -- were there. You'd think after millions of

:31:59. > :32:03.pounds spent on the tower block, you would think it would be safe and you

:32:04. > :32:07.would think this event, even if they fire did happen through electric or

:32:08. > :32:11.gas, you would think that wouldn't happen after spending millions of

:32:12. > :32:16.pounds on the refurbishments. As it is it did happen and the blaze has

:32:17. > :32:20.been going on since 1am, which I think is a complete... Well,

:32:21. > :32:27.terrible, pathetic and not up to what it should be. Paul, thanks very

:32:28. > :32:30.much indeed, appreciate you telling us what you saw last night. People

:32:31. > :32:35.are gathering, people bringing bags of clothes, they have had to get up

:32:36. > :32:38.quickly, in a state of shock and complete devastation.

:32:39. > :32:44.We should make very clear at this stage that the cause of the fire is

:32:45. > :32:48.not known, so say the London Fire brigade. 200 firefighters, more than

:32:49. > :32:54.40 engines are at the scene dealing with the blaze in West London and

:32:55. > :33:00.the London ambulance service has informed us that so far 30 people

:33:01. > :33:05.have been taken to hospital as a result of injuries from this fire.

:33:06. > :33:08.We've had no other details on any other casualties or injuries.

:33:09. > :33:12.In the last few minutes and emergency number has been set up for

:33:13. > :33:19.anyone concerned for loved ones. The number we can bring you is:

:33:20. > :33:30.You can see the number on your screen. That's the number for anyone

:33:31. > :33:37.concerned about anyone caught up in the fires. We know that some 500

:33:38. > :33:39.people live in the apartment block, Richard Lister can remind us of the

:33:40. > :33:48.details of what's happened. The fire raged through the night.

:33:49. > :33:52.This 27-storey block, home to hundreds of people, was engulfed in

:33:53. > :33:57.flames. In the chaos it was unclear how many were able to get out. Some

:33:58. > :34:03.were trapped inside for some time at least standing at windows in the

:34:04. > :34:09.desperate hope of rescue. Uni during 999, there's a dedicated line for

:34:10. > :34:13.this incident, OK? On the ground police cleared a wide cordon and

:34:14. > :34:18.close to the nearby A40 in and out of London. Some 200 fire engines

:34:19. > :34:21.were brought in to tackle the blaze. As the hours passed the concern was

:34:22. > :34:30.the building might collapse and who might be trapped inside. Many people

:34:31. > :34:33.were led to safety but some 30 were taken to hospital, others were

:34:34. > :34:37.counting their blessings. David Benjamin was in the block when the

:34:38. > :34:40.fire began. There was smoke everywhere, literally everywhere.

:34:41. > :34:45.There was people downstairs, there was bits of the cladding falling off

:34:46. > :34:49.the block, people screaming, after a couple of minutes because obviously

:34:50. > :34:53.people were still sleeping on the high floors, they didn't have a clue

:34:54. > :35:05.what was going on. I'm not even sure if half of them got out to be honest

:35:06. > :35:08.with you. The block is now a smoking ruin, it's been declared a major

:35:09. > :35:10.emergency. How it began and the full extent of the casualties are still

:35:11. > :35:19.unclear. Richard Lister, BBC News. These are the live images, the

:35:20. > :35:24.helicopter capturing some of the images. This is a built-up area of

:35:25. > :35:29.west London, the Grenfell Tower, you can see in the image, the 840 West

:35:30. > :35:34.way, the main route going into London is just behind the building.

:35:35. > :35:38.Disney in Notting Hill Gate, Shepherds Bush not far away and you

:35:39. > :35:42.can see how built-up the area is around and there's concern this

:35:43. > :35:46.morning of course over casualties, and we are waiting for more

:35:47. > :35:53.information on that, the real concern is over the stability of the

:35:54. > :35:59.structure. Huge damage, only a small portion not affected by the fire.

:36:00. > :36:10.You can see flames inside the building up until an hour ago. The

:36:11. > :36:13.fire began around the fourth floor and rapidly escalated and you can

:36:14. > :36:21.see firefighters tackling this building. We have heard some

:36:22. > :36:25.harrowing eyewitness accounts this morning and you may find some of

:36:26. > :36:29.these accounts distressing as we hear from people who managed to

:36:30. > :36:32.escape from the building or who were watching people who are either

:36:33. > :36:39.screaming for help from inside the building or who managed to escape.

:36:40. > :36:41.Earlier we spoke to Mikey, he got out of the building with his partner

:36:42. > :36:47.and daughter. It was about 1am, 1:30 a.m., I'm in

:36:48. > :36:52.bed with my girlfriend, she is fast asleep, her little girl is next to

:36:53. > :36:57.her fast asleep, drifting in and out of consciousness and I smell

:36:58. > :37:01.something plastic because we have devices like Apple iPads and kindles

:37:02. > :37:05.I thought I would jump up to see what it was. I jumped up to smoke a

:37:06. > :37:09.cigarette and as I'm smoking the fact I could hear shouting and I

:37:10. > :37:15.wondered what's going on and I heard a lady saying there's something

:37:16. > :37:22.going wrong here, I look neighbours running out, gets downstairs, the

:37:23. > :37:29.downstairs. I've gone inside, put my dressing gown on. Got my girlfriend

:37:30. > :37:34.and ran down the stairs. Our advice was if there's a fire them stay in

:37:35. > :37:39.the flat. If we had stayed in the flat we would have perished. It

:37:40. > :37:43.spread like wildfire. The block of flats was covered in cladding. The

:37:44. > :37:47.smoke alarm was useless. We heard nothing. I could only hear it in the

:37:48. > :37:52.hallway, not in the flat. Horrendous. People were screaming in

:37:53. > :37:56.the windows and the thing went up in what felt like seconds, it just went

:37:57. > :38:01.up and up and up, never seen anything like it, it was like

:38:02. > :38:06.something out of a Hollywood disaster movie. Have you seen anyone

:38:07. > :38:15.you know get out? I just saw my neighbour get out. A woman on the

:38:16. > :38:19.27th 22nd floor just got out -- 22nd floor. There were people smashing

:38:20. > :38:25.windows and explosions going off. I'm shaking, I'm grateful we got

:38:26. > :38:29.out, if we had listened and state we would have perished. Do you know how

:38:30. > :38:36.many people live in the block of flats? There are 25 floors and six

:38:37. > :38:43.or seven flats on each floor. Two, three, four bedroom places. A wide

:38:44. > :38:48.range of rooms in the flats. We hear that there was some kind of gas

:38:49. > :38:52.works taking place? About six weeks ago there was a local resident who

:38:53. > :38:55.owned a tenancy and he said he was going to come Aaron and change

:38:56. > :39:02.anything to gas, he refused to do it, he was going to ask to change

:39:03. > :39:06.it, it's I said I use electricity. I did see over the weeks the work

:39:07. > :39:11.going on with the gas and during the fire there were explosions going

:39:12. > :39:15.off, windows flying out with blue flames, which struck me, gas. Were

:39:16. > :39:22.you able to help other people get out? No, I was concentrating on my

:39:23. > :39:26.girlfriend and the little girl. I was in my boxer shorts and there was

:39:27. > :39:30.a lady outside with trousers, shoes for people to put on because

:39:31. > :39:37.everyone is in their nighties and whatnot. It was just horrendous. I'm

:39:38. > :39:44.hoping to God not too many people perished. You've seen people

:39:45. > :39:49.gathering here this morning utterly traumatised, as you are, what are

:39:50. > :39:54.other people saying? Everyone is shocked, tears, people are searching

:39:55. > :39:57.with pictures now, a lot of people from the school that adjoining the

:39:58. > :40:05.building are missing, a lot of young kids and old people are missing.

:40:06. > :40:11.There was no stopping it. The speed struck you? It was like pyrotechnic

:40:12. > :40:16.speed. I think it was all down to the cladding they put on the block.

:40:17. > :40:20.It was like plastic, all went up in seconds and there were fire engines,

:40:21. > :40:25.there were eight or nine fire engines but there were only two Mac

:40:26. > :40:30.operating. We were saying, get there. Someone jumped out from the

:40:31. > :40:33.fifth floor something, landed, she was OK, absolute nightmare.

:40:34. > :40:40.That was the first hand account of Mikey, who as you heard was on the

:40:41. > :40:44.seventh floor and managed to escape with his partner and his daughter.

:40:45. > :40:49.He was making reference... These are the live images you're seeing, the

:40:50. > :40:54.smoke still billowing from the building, you can get a scale of the

:40:55. > :41:00.damage to the building. Mikey was talking about the damage from the

:41:01. > :41:05.flames. You can get a real sense of just how desperate the situation

:41:06. > :41:09.was. Many of the eyewitnesses we have spoken to this morning have

:41:10. > :41:13.suggested, and we can't confirm this at this stage, that the fire may

:41:14. > :41:18.have started on the fourth floor, certainly on the lower floors of the

:41:19. > :41:22.building, but quickly, within a matter of minutes, completely

:41:23. > :41:28.engulfed the entire apartment block. We understand there are around 140

:41:29. > :41:33.flats in all and these are a mixture of families and older people as

:41:34. > :41:37.well, there may be as many as 500 people in all, and at this stage the

:41:38. > :41:42.London ambulance this is saying they are treating 30 people who are being

:41:43. > :41:48.helped who were injured in the scene itself, many other people, as you

:41:49. > :41:52.heard from Mickey, who did escape, had been taken to local centres

:41:53. > :41:57.looking after those caught up in the problems. Let's look at what is

:41:58. > :42:01.happening now on the Grenfell Tower. Firefighters still tackling the

:42:02. > :42:05.blaze, there are parts of the building still alight, you may be

:42:06. > :42:08.able to see you flames inside some parts of the building as

:42:09. > :42:15.firefighters tackle it from all sides. More than 200 firefighters,

:42:16. > :42:20.45 engines at the scene. The fire brigade is giving us updates as soon

:42:21. > :42:26.as it can but obviously its main focus is tackling the blaze in this

:42:27. > :42:30.building. We understand 30 flats in the surrounding area have been

:42:31. > :42:34.evacuated. This is a very densely populated area of west London near

:42:35. > :42:40.Notting Hill, near Portobello market. We understand that there is

:42:41. > :42:46.of course understandably concerns about the stability of this building

:42:47. > :42:50.in the wake of this blaze. Our correspondent Andy Moore was around

:42:51. > :42:54.500 metres away and you had a view of the emergency services at the

:42:55. > :43:00.scene and obviously people who have been forced to leave the area?

:43:01. > :43:05.That's right. You can see yourself that there are still flames in some

:43:06. > :43:12.parts of the building, the hoses are playing on the lower part of the

:43:13. > :43:16.building. Just below me I can see four ambulances have arrived with

:43:17. > :43:20.their blue lights flashing, a very large response by the emergency

:43:21. > :43:26.services, we know this was declared a major incident. There were 40 fire

:43:27. > :43:31.engines here, 200 firefighters. We know 20 ambulances were sent and 30

:43:32. > :43:36.patients were taken to five different hospitals. But at the

:43:37. > :43:43.moment you can see the firefighters trying to control the blaze on the

:43:44. > :43:47.left. There is an automated platform. We don't believe there's

:43:48. > :43:51.anybody on the top of that platform. It's controlled by an operator on

:43:52. > :43:56.the ground. But that part of the building you can see on the left,

:43:57. > :44:00.the undamaged section, that's where in the middle of the night we saw

:44:01. > :44:04.someone briefly at a window before hopefully they were rescued inside

:44:05. > :44:09.by the firefighters who went into the building with breathing

:44:10. > :44:12.apparatus to try to... OK, our correspondent Andy Moore not far

:44:13. > :44:19.from the scene, he will keep us updated. We are waiting for an

:44:20. > :44:23.update from the emergency services. The fire brigade expected to give an

:44:24. > :44:27.update on how exactly they are tackling the blaze.

:44:28. > :44:31.Tim Muffett is that one of the rescue centres. You've been hearing

:44:32. > :44:36.many stories from those caught up in the problems? Yes, harrowing stories

:44:37. > :44:41.at Latymer Community Church come up with people are gathering, trying to

:44:42. > :44:45.talk to friends and people who might have got out. You live nearby. What

:44:46. > :44:51.did you see? I saw fire engulfing one side of the building. I saw

:44:52. > :44:56.families with towels or blankets outside the windows and people with

:44:57. > :45:02.smartphone devices, with their torch, trying to catch people's

:45:03. > :45:09.attention. I saw a lot of police are not much fire brigade and I saw

:45:10. > :45:13.helicopters circling. I saw one person from the fourth or fifth

:45:14. > :45:19.floor with a young child. A lot of screaming. Have you been speaking to

:45:20. > :45:23.other people here, obviously gathering in a state of shock, what

:45:24. > :45:27.else have you heard? The main thing I have been hearing is that there

:45:28. > :45:32.was a long delay between the time when people smelt something and saw

:45:33. > :45:38.something, called emergency services and the emergency services arriving.

:45:39. > :45:41.There was a very large gap. The speed at which the flames took hold,

:45:42. > :45:47.a lot of people have commented on that. Is that something you've

:45:48. > :45:51.heard? When we first came, as you said, the flames were on one side of

:45:52. > :45:57.the building and ten minutes later more of it was up and within no time

:45:58. > :46:02.most of the building was set ablaze. The juicy many people get out OK? I

:46:03. > :46:07.saw some people getting out OK, I saw some people getting carried out,

:46:08. > :46:14.some people getting supported out. It was a mixture. What about you?

:46:15. > :46:18.Similar? Was it the speed at which the flames took hold which surprised

:46:19. > :46:23.you? For me, I think the one image which sticks in my mind was seeing a

:46:24. > :46:29.family waving what appeared to be a towel for around one hour or an hour

:46:30. > :46:32.and a half and there was a helicopter and I'm not sure if it

:46:33. > :46:39.was a media helicopter, I think it was, coming about 400 metres from

:46:40. > :46:44.their window and then turning around. For me, the thing I took

:46:45. > :46:49.from this was how agonising must that have been for that family, when

:46:50. > :46:58.we watched them stopped moving from the street? You know? What can you

:46:59. > :47:02.say? Indeed. It was utterly horrific. Thank you very much for

:47:03. > :47:07.sharing those accounts with us this morning. People gathering here in

:47:08. > :47:12.greater number. People walking along with bags of clothes they've clearly

:47:13. > :47:15.grabbed at the last moment and people within this area trying to

:47:16. > :47:19.come to terms with what has happened. I feel we are sadly going

:47:20. > :47:24.to hear many more harrowing tales like the ones we have just heard.

:47:25. > :47:30.Thanks very much. We should warn viewers who are tuning into our

:47:31. > :47:35.special programme here on BBC News, we are bringing reports of a fire.

:47:36. > :47:39.You can see the building. That is Grenfell Tower in west London. 27

:47:40. > :47:46.storey building with about 140 flats. Up to 500 people lived in

:47:47. > :47:50.that building. The fire broke out in the early hours of this morning

:47:51. > :47:53.between midnight and 1am this morning and since then, since the

:47:54. > :48:00.first report of the fire, firefighters have been tackling what

:48:01. > :48:04.has been an horrendously amazing blaze that engulfed the building.

:48:05. > :48:09.There are still flames in parts of the building some seven hours later.

:48:10. > :48:13.Firefighters continue to tackle it to bring it under control. The court

:48:14. > :48:18.and around it has been widened in this rather densely populated area

:48:19. > :48:21.of west London, near Notting Hill, as there are fears that the

:48:22. > :48:26.stability of the building are under threat.

:48:27. > :48:30.These are the images coming from the helicopter, which is taking pictures

:48:31. > :48:36.of the building. This is an area of west London, the old BBC building is

:48:37. > :48:40.nearby. The Westfield shopping centre is nearby. As the camera

:48:41. > :48:46.moves around you may be able to see the A40 which is close by. This is a

:48:47. > :48:50.densely built-up area. The area immediately surrounding has been

:48:51. > :48:53.evacuated. As you can see, Tim Muffett has been at one of the

:48:54. > :48:57.centres where many people have been bought two. We are hearing some very

:48:58. > :49:01.harrowing stories this morning. Worth a word of caution around some

:49:02. > :49:05.of the stories are merging. We have heard from people who did escape

:49:06. > :49:11.this morning. Some of those escaping from the seventh floor, you heard

:49:12. > :49:15.from one man who escaped with his partner and young daughter. The

:49:16. > :49:20.London Ambulance Service at this stage are saying they have treated

:49:21. > :49:26.30 people, who have been taken to five hospitals nearby. We are

:49:27. > :49:29.awaiting a police and press services conference shortly.

:49:30. > :49:34.Tim Muffett spoke to another eyewitness who escaped from the

:49:35. > :49:40.building with her friend. About 12 or 12:30am, 1am, my mother called me

:49:41. > :49:45.and said there was a fire at night. Over time I got there the whole left

:49:46. > :49:50.side... Right side of the building was on fire. You could hear people

:49:51. > :49:54.screaming, help me! Me and my brother and some other people who

:49:55. > :49:57.lived in the area ran over to the estate. We could still get

:49:58. > :50:02.underneath it and people were throwing their kids out, save my

:50:03. > :50:06.children! The fire brigade, the ambulance and police couldn't do

:50:07. > :50:10.anything, they couldn't get in. They just stayed where they were. We will

:50:11. > :50:16.come and get you. Things quickly escalated yonder measures and they

:50:17. > :50:20.couldn't go back in and get them, it was too much. Within another 15

:50:21. > :50:24.minutes the whole thing was up in flames and people were at the

:50:25. > :50:28.windows, help me! You could see the fire going into the house and into

:50:29. > :50:36.the last room that they were in and just engulfing their whole

:50:37. > :50:41.apartment. What did you see? It escalated very quickly. Around

:50:42. > :50:46.midnight it was only on the third floor and before you know it the

:50:47. > :50:49.whole 23 floors of the building were all on fire and there were people

:50:50. > :50:55.screaming for help, people obviously throwing kids out. Everyone felt

:50:56. > :50:59.really helpless because no one could get to them and everyone was really

:51:00. > :51:06.scared and they didn't know what to do. It was really sad to see. These

:51:07. > :51:11.are all people who I grew up with. People you see every day, our

:51:12. > :51:14.neighbours. There were little kids there, elderly people, disabled

:51:15. > :51:21.people, a lot of people there... Family members who didn't make it

:51:22. > :51:26.out. There were still a lot of people who were there. My brother,

:51:27. > :51:30.loads of his school friends, they are still wondering if their friends

:51:31. > :51:36.have made it out. Haven't heard anything. One of the girls actually

:51:37. > :51:44.lives on the top floor, and if you were living on that floor people say

:51:45. > :51:52.they haven't made it. People talk about the speed, is that what struck

:51:53. > :51:58.you? It literally went from zero to 100 quickly. It was literally just

:51:59. > :52:02.the fourth floor. It was bad but very minor. That building is really

:52:03. > :52:08.big. It literally escalated. That was an eyewitness speaking to Tim

:52:09. > :52:11.Muffett. Let's bring you up-to-date with the

:52:12. > :52:14.latest information coming from the emergency services. A press

:52:15. > :52:18.conference at the last few minutes. The London fire commissioner says

:52:19. > :52:23.there have been some fatalities in the London fire. This is just

:52:24. > :52:27.emerging in the last few minutes. A press conference from the emergency

:52:28. > :52:32.services saying there have been some fatalities in the London fire. Also

:52:33. > :52:36.saying that the cause of the fire is not yet known.

:52:37. > :52:41.These are comments from the London fire commissioner who has

:52:42. > :52:45.declared... Says this has been declared a major incident. He said

:52:46. > :52:50.the first fire engines were there in under six minutes of it being

:52:51. > :52:56.reported. And at the time he was speaking at the conference, he said

:52:57. > :52:59.it was sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities,

:53:00. > :53:02.although the number can't be confirmed due to the complexity of

:53:03. > :53:05.the building and of course they are working very closely with police to

:53:06. > :53:11.bring the situation under control. It is being described as an

:53:12. > :53:15.unprecedented incident. He said in his 21 years as a firefighter he has

:53:16. > :53:22.never seen anything on this scale. Tim Muffett is nearby. Yes, I am

:53:23. > :53:27.joined by the leader of Kensington and Chelsea council. Tell us what

:53:28. > :53:31.you saw, what you heard from the people you've been speaking to? I

:53:32. > :53:36.first received a call just after 3am this morning. I came here as soon as

:53:37. > :53:41.I could. I tried to ensure that the emergency planning team were able to

:53:42. > :53:44.provide support to people who had been immediately affected and

:53:45. > :53:50.evacuated from the tower. I'm pleased to say they have been able

:53:51. > :53:53.to do that and we are at all of the centres now and there are other

:53:54. > :53:57.emergency centres nearby. The Fire Brigade are clearly in attendance on

:53:58. > :54:01.a massive scale and have been for several hours and it looks like,

:54:02. > :54:04.sadly, they will be here a lot longer. When we have more

:54:05. > :54:09.information clearly we will share it and I am sure the Fire Brigade will

:54:10. > :54:12.as well. What do you know about this block of flats? You know how many

:54:13. > :54:17.people live your? There are about 130 flights. What we don't yet know

:54:18. > :54:22.is who was in those flats. Clearly a fire in the middle of the night

:54:23. > :54:26.suggests more people are at home than other parts of the day and it

:54:27. > :54:29.may take them longer to evacuate, but we don't know precisely how many

:54:30. > :54:33.people were in their or how many people may have been absent. That

:54:34. > :54:37.will need to be established. The emergency services, who are doing a

:54:38. > :54:42.wonderful job, will be helping people who might have been trapped.

:54:43. > :54:45.Were you aware of any concerns raised about these flats before?

:54:46. > :54:49.There are always concerns about high-rise buildings and what the

:54:50. > :54:53.fire procedures are and what the fire regulations require. There are

:54:54. > :54:58.fire regulations. Blocks are regularly inspected. The

:54:59. > :55:03.organisation which runs the council housing stock will commission

:55:04. > :55:09.regular inspections and clearly there will need to be a thorough

:55:10. > :55:13.investigation into what has been investigated here and what the cause

:55:14. > :55:16.of the fire was and why it appeared to have spread so rapidly. You

:55:17. > :55:20.mentioned the speed at which the fire spread. It has taken so many

:55:21. > :55:23.people by surprise. 70 people are astonished by the speed. Is that

:55:24. > :55:28.what you've heard? -- so many people. Yes, and when you come into

:55:29. > :55:32.the area you can see how extensive the blaze is and how it appears to

:55:33. > :55:36.have spread across the block. There will need to be a thorough

:55:37. > :55:41.investigation as to why a fire that started rigidly in one flats spread

:55:42. > :55:46.so quickly. Thanks very much indeed. One update for you there. More

:55:47. > :55:49.people gathering and we will get further updates to you as soon as we

:55:50. > :55:53.have it. We can bring you up-to-date with

:55:54. > :55:57.what's been happening. These are pictures of Grenfell Tower in west

:55:58. > :56:01.London, which went up in flames early in the morning between 12

:56:02. > :56:05.o'clock and midnight. A statement from the London Fire Brigade has

:56:06. > :56:09.come out. The commissioner said that in her 29 years as a firefighter she

:56:10. > :56:15.has never seen anything on this scale. It is an unprecedented

:56:16. > :56:20.incident. 200 offer are attending this incident and she has also

:56:21. > :56:24.confirmed that there have been a number of fatalities, although they

:56:25. > :56:26.can't confirm the number at this time due to the complexity of the

:56:27. > :56:31.building. An emergency number has been set up

:56:32. > :56:42.for anybody concerned about loved ones. The number of -- will be

:56:43. > :00:05.brought to you throughout the programme. Time

:00:06. > :00:15.Hello, this is Breakfast from BBC News with Charlie Stayt

:00:16. > :00:21.A major incident is declared as a huge fire engulfs a tower

:00:22. > :00:28.It broke out just before 1am in the morning.

:00:29. > :00:30.More than 200 firefighters are at the scene, along

:00:31. > :00:51.Let's bring you up-to-date with the latest on that devastating

:00:52. > :00:55.fire which has engulfed a 27 storey tower block in West London.

:00:56. > :01:01.This is the Grenfell Tower. You can see firefighters are still tackling

:01:02. > :01:05.this blaze and have been doing so since being first informed of it at

:01:06. > :01:09.just a few minutes to 1am this morning. And we understand from the

:01:10. > :01:14.London Fire Brigade that they responded to the incident within

:01:15. > :01:18.minutes. Yes, in the last half an hour, London's fire commissioner

:01:19. > :01:22.declared a major incident and confirmed there have been a number

:01:23. > :01:27.of casualties, but could not confirm how many. There have been a number

:01:28. > :01:31.of fatalities according to Danny Cotton, the fire commissioner. There

:01:32. > :01:34.have been a number of fatalities, but she went on to say the cause of

:01:35. > :01:39.the fire is not yet known at this stage. She called the blaze

:01:40. > :01:44.unprecedented. She said she had never seen anything on that scale.

:01:45. > :01:48.Richard Lister can remind us of the details of what's happened.

:01:49. > :01:54.This 27 storey block, home to hundreds of people,

:01:55. > :02:00.In the chaos, it was unclear how many were able to get out.

:02:01. > :02:04.Some were trapped inside for sometime at least,

:02:05. > :02:08.standing at windows in the desperate hope of rescue.

:02:09. > :02:10.You need to ring 999 and there is a dedicated

:02:11. > :02:18.On the ground, police cleared a wide cordon and closed the nearby A40

:02:19. > :02:23.Some 200 fire engines were brought in to tackle the blaze.

:02:24. > :02:25.As the hours passed, the concern was whether the building

:02:26. > :02:31.might collapse and who might still be trapped inside.

:02:32. > :02:34.Many people were led to safety, but some 30 were taken to hospital.

:02:35. > :02:36.Others were counting their blessings.

:02:37. > :02:39.David Benjamin was in the block when the fire began.

:02:40. > :02:41.There was smoke everywhere. Literally everywhere.

:02:42. > :02:47.There was bits of cladding falling off the block.

:02:48. > :03:01.After a couple of minutes, because people were still sleeping

:03:02. > :03:04.on the higher floors so they didn't have a clue what was going on.

:03:05. > :03:08.It has been declared a major emergency.

:03:09. > :03:13.How it began and the full extent of the casualties are still unclear.

:03:14. > :03:21.An emergency number has been set up for anyone concerned for loved ones

:03:22. > :03:29.The Casualty Bureau is 0800 0961 233.

:03:30. > :03:36.If anyone is concerned about family, friends, relatives near the Grenfell

:03:37. > :03:45.Tower in West London, the number is 0800 0961 233.

:03:46. > :03:49.Grenfell Tower, we know there are around about 140 flats in the

:03:50. > :03:52.building. People estimating there maybe between four and five hundred

:03:53. > :03:58.people living in the flats. Many families. Some older people as well.

:03:59. > :04:04.In terms of the geography this is a very built up area of West London.

:04:05. > :04:10.People will know the Westway running behind. The West Field Shopping

:04:11. > :04:13.Centre is close by. Surrounding streets have been closed off because

:04:14. > :04:17.this morning there are real concerns about the structure itself.

:04:18. > :04:20.Let's get the very latest now from Tim Muffett,

:04:21. > :04:21.who's at one of the rescue centres close to the fire.

:04:22. > :04:26.Tim some very harrowing stories emerging this morning? Very,

:04:27. > :04:30.harrowing indeed. People are gathering this morning. Some people

:04:31. > :04:36.just carrying bags of clothes which they have clearly grabbed in a

:04:37. > :04:40.hurry. The helicopters are above me. Brenda, you live nearby and you saw

:04:41. > :04:45.the fire take hold. Tell us what you saw? Well, I was woken in the early

:04:46. > :04:49.hours of the morning with someone shout that Grenfell was on fire. I

:04:50. > :04:53.couldn't believe it at first, but I've got a roof terrace and I went

:04:54. > :04:58.out on to the roof terrace and I could see it was alight and I just

:04:59. > :05:01.couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was just horrific and hearing

:05:02. > :05:07.people shouting for help and screaming and just seeing people at

:05:08. > :05:10.their windows waving and desperately wanting someone to come and rescue

:05:11. > :05:16.them out of their flat. It was just awful. Did you know people who lived

:05:17. > :05:21.there? I didn't realise, that I did, but now people are starting to come

:05:22. > :05:26.to the Christian centre that managed to get out, there are people that we

:05:27. > :05:30.did know and some of their families that lived there. They're looking

:05:31. > :05:34.for them as well. We knew a couple of people. So many people this

:05:35. > :05:37.morning talked about the speed at which the flames took a hold. Is

:05:38. > :05:44.that what surprised you as well? Yes. It was just, one side of it was

:05:45. > :05:49.just, you know, just sort of crumbling away. It was terrible and

:05:50. > :05:52.then the other side was alight. It just took hold so quickly and the

:05:53. > :05:57.firefighters were working really hard, but they couldn't get it under

:05:58. > :06:00.control. It was just too bad. The other people you have been speaking

:06:01. > :06:05.to here this morning, other residents who have come out of the

:06:06. > :06:08.block of flats, what have they been saying to you? They're shocked that

:06:09. > :06:14.it happened. The whole community is just so shocked that something that

:06:15. > :06:18.bad could actually happen. We know that there are other tower blocks in

:06:19. > :06:24.the areas that had fires before, but not to this extent. This is a

:06:25. > :06:29.complete block really and it's just unbelievable. I just can't take it

:06:30. > :06:34.in. I really appreciate you talking to this us this morning. Thank you

:06:35. > :06:37.very much indeed. Just one more harrowing eyewitness of what

:06:38. > :06:41.happened. So many people this morning are talking about the speed

:06:42. > :06:45.at which the flames told a hold. So, so quickly giving, it would seem,

:06:46. > :06:49.many people very, very little chance to get out. Some people have got out

:06:50. > :06:52.of the building and we have been speaking to them as well, again with

:06:53. > :06:56.very harrowing accounts you might have heard earlier, but you can see

:06:57. > :07:01.the activity behind me, more people gathering just outside this

:07:02. > :07:04.community centre, sharing stories, many, many tears, absolutely

:07:05. > :07:08.distraught people. People here are trying to come to terms with this

:07:09. > :07:11.awful event. It's very, very difficult to come to terms with

:07:12. > :07:18.indeed, Tim, thank you very much. We will be hearing more from Tim as he

:07:19. > :07:22.speaks to people at scene in Latimer Road and at the community centre.

:07:23. > :07:28.Many people from the tower have been evacuated to. You're looking at the

:07:29. > :07:32.live images of Grenfell Tower. This is in Latimer Road in West London.

:07:33. > :07:36.The tower containing 140 apartments. Around half an hour we got the

:07:37. > :07:40.latest update from the emergency services. Let me take you through

:07:41. > :07:45.some of the key points that emerged that. This is from Dani Cotton

:07:46. > :07:49.saying that the London Fire Brigade took multiple calls. The first call

:07:50. > :07:53.coming in at 6 minutes to one, in the early hours of this morning.

:07:54. > :07:57.Fire engines on the scene in under six minutes. London Ambulance

:07:58. > :08:02.Service confirming 30 people have been taken to five hospitals. And

:08:03. > :08:08.she went on to say at this time I'm very sad to confirm there have been

:08:09. > :08:11.a number of fatalities, but I cannot confirm the number at this time due

:08:12. > :08:14.to the size and the come Paralympicsity of the building and

:08:15. > :08:22.it would be wrong to speculate further. So, just to repeat, this is

:08:23. > :08:25.from Dani Cotton, London fire commissioner confirm that there have

:08:26. > :08:31.been a number of fatalities. The cause of the fire is not known at

:08:32. > :08:34.this stage, but the crews wearing breathing apparatus have been

:08:35. > :08:37.working, she says in extremely challenging and very difficult

:08:38. > :08:45.conditions, trying to rescue people and bring this major fire under

:08:46. > :08:49.control. She added in her 29 years as a firefighter she had never seen

:08:50. > :08:52.anything on this scale. That's reflected in the eyewitness accounts

:08:53. > :08:56.we've been hearing all morning. We can talk to Andy Moore who is our

:08:57. > :09:00.correspondent some 500 meters from the scene. Andy, it is very

:09:01. > :09:05.difficult to see close up with this building, but just in the last half

:09:06. > :09:13.an hour or so, we were definitely seeing flames inside the building?

:09:14. > :09:18.Yes, I mean you can see most of it is just a blackened, charred wreck,

:09:19. > :09:23.but there are still flames in some of the flats and every now and again

:09:24. > :09:28.they flair up. The Fire Service are doing the best they can to control

:09:29. > :09:33.it. You can see their hoses playing on the building every now and again.

:09:34. > :09:38.You can hear a small explosion from within inside the building as

:09:39. > :09:44.something goes up in flames. There is only one part of the building

:09:45. > :09:48.really on the left-hand side that is undamaged as far as as I can see and

:09:49. > :09:51.in the shots we have seen from the helicopter, all the other sides of

:09:52. > :09:54.the building have been completely destroyed. Only that one section

:09:55. > :10:00.down there on the left is unburnt and that's where in the early hours

:10:01. > :10:03.of the morning perhaps 3am or 4am we saw somebody at the window there

:10:04. > :10:07.briefly coming to the window, going back into the flat and then out

:10:08. > :10:12.again. We don't know what happened to that person, but we hope they

:10:13. > :10:16.were rescued by firefighters who went into the building wearing

:10:17. > :10:19.breathing apparatus. When we saw that person at the window, the

:10:20. > :10:23.firefighters seemed to be concentrating their efforts on that

:10:24. > :10:29.particular corner of the building. You can see that hydraulic platform

:10:30. > :10:33.there. That was going up when we saw that person at the window and it

:10:34. > :10:36.seemed to be trying to control the blaze around that particular flat

:10:37. > :10:41.where there were signs of life. I understand that the cordon around

:10:42. > :10:47.the building has been expanded as well because the stability of the

:10:48. > :10:51.building is in some doubt? That's right. I mean that's been the case

:10:52. > :10:57.since the early hours of the morning. We arrived here probably at

:10:58. > :11:01.2am, maybe slightly before that and the crowds were on the streets,

:11:02. > :11:09.watching what was happening. A police cordon had been set-up, but

:11:10. > :11:13.while we were there, the police were urgently pushing back telling them

:11:14. > :11:17.that there was a risk that the building would collapse and we could

:11:18. > :11:21.see on the other side of the building there was debris that was

:11:22. > :11:26.floating down, charred debris, some of it was burning, and we know that

:11:27. > :11:30.about 30 flats around the area have been evacuated because of that risk

:11:31. > :11:34.of the fire spreading to other buildings and the risk of the whole

:11:35. > :11:39.structure possibly collapsing. But having talked about the risk of the

:11:40. > :11:41.structure collapsing, you can't see the firefighters, but you can see

:11:42. > :11:46.their hoses and we know that the firefighters are still in very close

:11:47. > :11:51.proximity to the tower block so either they have a fair degree of

:11:52. > :11:54.confidence that it won't collapse or they believe it's more important for

:11:55. > :12:00.them to get up close to the building to do their job to try and rescue

:12:01. > :12:05.people who might still possibly be in the tower. Andy, for the moment,

:12:06. > :12:09.thank you very much. You're watching our extended coverage of the major

:12:10. > :12:14.fire, a major incident, in West London this morning. You can see the

:12:15. > :12:20.live images there of the tower block in West London. We know that some

:12:21. > :12:24.500 people live in the apartments there. Let's just take you through

:12:25. > :12:29.as we understand the sequence of events. If we look at images filmed

:12:30. > :12:33.in the early hours of this morning. This will give you a real sense of

:12:34. > :12:37.the scale of the blaze itself. The Fire Brigade confirming this morning

:12:38. > :12:41.that their first emergency calls came in at six minute to say one.

:12:42. > :12:44.Some eyewitnesses telling us they saw flames a little earlier than

:12:45. > :12:49.that, but what is clearly emerging this morning is that the fire

:12:50. > :12:54.engulfed the building very quickly, within a short space of time. What

:12:55. > :12:58.appears to have been a fire that according to some eyewitnesses

:12:59. > :13:02.started around the fourth floor of the apartment block, the flames very

:13:03. > :13:06.quickly escalated massively. You can see those images taken in the early

:13:07. > :13:12.hours of this morning, it gives you a real sense of the scale of the

:13:13. > :13:17.inferno that really engulfed the building. We're hearing that 30

:13:18. > :13:23.people have been given assistance by the London Ambulance Service and

:13:24. > :13:26.taken to five London hospitals. But this morning, the London fire

:13:27. > :13:31.commissioner confirming that there have been a number of fatalities.

:13:32. > :13:34.Unable at this stage to confirm how many, but that is the latest

:13:35. > :13:37.information from the emergency services that there have been a

:13:38. > :13:44.number of fatalities. We haven't been given a cause of the

:13:45. > :13:48.fire. Fire investigators, the Fire Brigade, the Royal Borough of

:13:49. > :13:51.Kensington and Chelsea said that thereby investigated, but for now

:13:52. > :13:54.the focus is on supporting emergency services in their rescue and relief

:13:55. > :13:59.operation. We have been bringing you many accounts from people who have

:14:00. > :14:04.escaped from the building, who lived close to the building, who live in

:14:05. > :14:08.the area. There have been very distressing as you can understand

:14:09. > :14:13.and very traumatic as people have experienced this horrific ins

:14:14. > :14:17.didn't. Mikey spoke to Tim Muffett, our correspondent you heard from a

:14:18. > :14:20.few minutes ago and Mikey managed to escape the building with his partner

:14:21. > :14:25.and daughter. He gave us this account. It was about one, half past

:14:26. > :14:30.one. I'm in bed with my girlfriend. My little girl is next door fast

:14:31. > :14:36.asleep. I'm drifting in and out of consciousness and I smell something

:14:37. > :14:40.plasticy, I jump up because I'm worrying about a device, I check

:14:41. > :14:46.everything and everything is OK, but I can still smell this smell. I lit

:14:47. > :14:53.up a cigarette. I heard shouting and I heard a lady going, "It's getting

:14:54. > :14:58.bigger and bigger." I thought there was something seriously wrong. There

:14:59. > :15:06.is all neighbours. They are saying, "Get down the stairs." I put my

:15:07. > :15:09.dressing gown and put me little girl in the dressing gown and got my

:15:10. > :15:15.girlfriend. We were told if there is a flat, stay in your flat. If we

:15:16. > :15:20.stayed in that flat we would have been perished and it spread like

:15:21. > :15:24.wildfire because it was covered in cladding, the block of flats. The

:15:25. > :15:29.smoke alarm was useless and I could only hear it in the hallway and not

:15:30. > :15:32.in the flat. It was horrendous, people screaming. It felt like

:15:33. > :15:37.seconds. It was just going up and up and up. I never seen something like

:15:38. > :15:43.it. It was like something out of a Hollywood disaster movie.

:15:44. > :15:56.Do you know about anybody getting out? I saw my neighbour... There

:15:57. > :16:00.were kids screaming about Windows, windows broken, explosions going

:16:01. > :16:04.off, I am shaking, I am in shock and grateful I got us out of there, if

:16:05. > :16:12.we had stayed in there we would have perished. Do you know how many

:16:13. > :16:19.people live there? There has to be a couple... A wide range of rooms in

:16:20. > :16:47.the I saw over the weeks, the work going

:16:48. > :17:03.on, during the fire there were explosions going off, Windows flying

:17:04. > :17:08.out, it was all blue flames. Once we were out, refuse bag, trousers and

:17:09. > :17:14.shoes, people running out in their dressing downs and whatnot. It's

:17:15. > :17:20.horrendous, I am hoping to God not too many people have perished. We

:17:21. > :17:25.have seen people gathering here this morning clearly utterly traumatised

:17:26. > :17:29.as you are yourself, what have other been people been saying? Everyone is

:17:30. > :17:33.in shock, people are searching for people with pictures, apparently a

:17:34. > :17:37.lot of kids from the school are joining the building are missing, a

:17:38. > :17:44.lot of kids and all people living in the block and it went right up,

:17:45. > :17:49.there was not any stopping it. It was the speed which really...? Yeah,

:17:50. > :17:52.it was like pyrotechnics speed and I think it was all down to the

:17:53. > :17:58.cladding they have put on the block. It was like plastic and it's gone

:17:59. > :18:03.all the way up in seconds. Fire engines there, eight or nine of them

:18:04. > :18:06.but only two of them operating, you could see silhouettes of people

:18:07. > :18:10.screaming, apparently someone jumping from the fifth floor or

:18:11. > :18:16.something, landed but she was OK. An absolute nightmare. We go to our

:18:17. > :18:23.correspondent now, very interesting to hear from him, he was on the

:18:24. > :18:28.seventh floor and mercifully able to escape with his family, are you

:18:29. > :18:34.hearing many of the stories from some of those who did manage to make

:18:35. > :18:39.their way out? Many of the people who it would seem did get out are so

:18:40. > :18:42.traumatised they do not want to talk, perfectly understandable

:18:43. > :18:45.reasons. We have had many eyewitnesses who saw from across the

:18:46. > :18:53.road what was happening and many harrowing stories. Councillor Robert

:18:54. > :18:59.Atkinson, this is your ward, when did you first become aware something

:19:00. > :19:05.so terrible had happened? About 4:30am, I came straight here. What

:19:06. > :19:09.do we know about the condition of these flats? It has been recently

:19:10. > :19:13.refurbished and clad, they replaced the kitchens and heating system, I

:19:14. > :19:18.would have thought it was the safest, we have had had fires in

:19:19. > :19:22.tower block before but nothing like this. This speed, so many people

:19:23. > :19:30.talking about the speed the flames to cold, a catastrophic fire of some

:19:31. > :19:36.sort. What is the latest you have heard? In terms of what? The state

:19:37. > :19:41.of the building and people getting out? A homeless families because the

:19:42. > :19:47.building is gutted, they have to be our priority today, we need to house

:19:48. > :19:50.today, there are 500 people here not knowing where their loved ones are,

:19:51. > :19:57.not knowing where they will sleep tonight. What assistance can you

:19:58. > :20:04.provide, give this speed this is all happening? The council efforts are

:20:05. > :20:07.being co-ordinated, dealing with the police and the Fire Brigades. The

:20:08. > :20:11.council cannot do anything about the fire but we can house people and

:20:12. > :20:16.take care of their immediate needs and I'm here to make sure that

:20:17. > :20:22.happens. What have they been telling you this morning about their escape

:20:23. > :20:26.or what they witnessed? It seems to have been an absolute horror, people

:20:27. > :20:31.were not aware there was a fire in the building, people were trying to

:20:32. > :20:36.get out of the building. I appreciate you talking to us this

:20:37. > :20:40.morning, before you go, do you think, what is your next plan in

:20:41. > :20:45.terms of housing these people? The first thing we need to do is find

:20:46. > :20:48.out who the casualties are, reunite families because they are spread

:20:49. > :20:54.over a number of community centres at the moment, so we have two

:20:55. > :20:57.coordinate and then we have to find, by tonight, where you how is 120

:20:58. > :21:03.families which in London will not be easy.

:21:04. > :21:10.Thank you very much for talking to us. A logistical challenge not to

:21:11. > :21:17.mention the human tragedy, the scale of which is absolutely stunned

:21:18. > :21:20.people here. To bring the up-to-date, we know a number of

:21:21. > :21:26.fatalities have been confirmed, there was a press conference in the

:21:27. > :21:29.last half an hour, the London Fire commissioner confirming there had

:21:30. > :21:37.been an number of fatalities. We can now hear from Dany Cotton. Of this

:21:38. > :21:43.24 story building from the second floor boards. I have over 200 of my

:21:44. > :21:47.firefighters and officers attending this incident, 45 engines and a

:21:48. > :21:52.range of specialist vehicles including 14 fire rescue units in

:21:53. > :21:56.attendance. Based on the level of resource that was needed at this

:21:57. > :22:01.buyer we declared this a major incident very early this morning.

:22:02. > :22:06.London Fire Brigade's control room took multiple calls to this incident

:22:07. > :22:12.with the first call coming in at six minutes to 1am. Our first fire

:22:13. > :22:19.engine was on scene in under six minutes. Crews wearing breathing

:22:20. > :22:24.apparatus have been working in extremely challenging and very

:22:25. > :22:29.difficult conditions to rescue people and bring this major fire

:22:30. > :22:36.under control. London Ambulance Service have confirmed that

:22:37. > :22:42.currently 30 people have been taken to five hospitals. At this time I'm

:22:43. > :22:46.very sad to confirm there have been a number of fatalities. I cannot

:22:47. > :22:51.confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this

:22:52. > :22:55.building and it would clearly be wrong for me to speculate further.

:22:56. > :22:59.Equally the cause of this fire is not known at this stage. We'll be

:23:00. > :23:05.here all day and we will provide further updates, we are working very

:23:06. > :23:09.closely with our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police and the London

:23:10. > :23:13.Ambulance Service to bring this situation under control. Further

:23:14. > :23:16.information for the public will be made available shortly including

:23:17. > :23:20.advice for those concerned about those who are working here and

:23:21. > :23:25.people who live here. The emergency services will continue to work with

:23:26. > :23:30.all agencies including the local authority to support all affected by

:23:31. > :23:38.this incident, thank you very much. That is Dany Cotton, the statement

:23:39. > :23:42.on the half of the Fire Service, just confirming, and I think it is

:23:43. > :23:46.helpful, if we look at the time line, they were saying they got the

:23:47. > :23:51.first call just before 1am, but if we can look now at the extent of the

:23:52. > :23:59.blaze in the early hours of the morning, the Fire Service confirming

:24:00. > :24:05.all but the first two floors, the second floor boards affected by the

:24:06. > :24:11.fire. You really get a sense of the scale of this blaze. These are the

:24:12. > :24:19.images taken around 2am or three. Many eyewitnesses, the image coming

:24:20. > :24:24.across is how fast the blaze to call from what appeared to be a

:24:25. > :24:31.relatively small fire to an enormous blaze within a matter of minutes.

:24:32. > :24:36.Heard from Dany Cotton who said in her 29 years as a firefighter she

:24:37. > :24:40.has never seen anything on this scale, that statement from the

:24:41. > :24:43.London Fire Department, the Metropolitan Police have also issued

:24:44. > :24:48.a statement saying police were called at 60 minutes past one this

:24:49. > :24:58.morning to reports of the fire. -- 60 minutes past one.

:24:59. > :25:05.All the emergency services and other agencies continue to work together

:25:06. > :25:09.at the scene and the evacuation process is continuing. He also

:25:10. > :25:15.confirmed a number of fatalities and said others are receiving medical

:25:16. > :25:20.care and also confirmed soon next of kin will be contacted. Anyone who

:25:21. > :25:23.has any concerns about loved ones in relation to the fire should contact

:25:24. > :25:27.casualties bureau which has been opened following the fire, the

:25:28. > :25:29.casualty bureau, this is going to be very busy, the number at the bottom

:25:30. > :25:42.of the screen. There will be lots of people calling

:25:43. > :25:47.this number are very concerned about family, friends, relatives,

:25:48. > :25:51.Commander Stewart Conde said if there are any problems getting

:25:52. > :25:55.through immediately try again. To give you an idea of what is

:25:56. > :26:01.happening in the area, the cordon around the building has been widened

:26:02. > :26:04.as the stability, concerns about the stability of the building increase.

:26:05. > :26:10.An number of nearby residents have been evacuated as a precaution. The

:26:11. > :26:13.main road in the area near Notting Hill, the a 40 closed in both

:26:14. > :26:19.directions and the police asking the public to stay away from the area if

:26:20. > :26:26.at all possible but has bagged the public for its patients and

:26:27. > :26:32.Corporation. More than 50 patients taken to five

:26:33. > :26:36.hospitals following the fire, that the latest from the Ambulance

:26:37. > :26:40.Service. This is extended coverage of the major incident in west

:26:41. > :26:41.London, back with the latest in a moment. First the news travel and

:26:42. > :30:03.weather where you are. tower block in west London

:30:04. > :30:05.throughout the morning Hello, this is Breakfast, with

:30:06. > :30:11.Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty. Let's bring you right up-to-date

:30:12. > :30:14.with the latest on that devastating fire which has engulfed a 27-storey

:30:15. > :30:18.tower block in West London. In the last half-hour,

:30:19. > :30:20.London's Fire Commissioner declared a major incident and confirmed

:30:21. > :30:22.there have been a number of fatalities, but could

:30:23. > :30:29.not confirm how many. She called the blaze

:30:30. > :30:31."unprecedented", and said This 27-storey block,

:30:32. > :30:48.home to hundreds of people, In the chaos, it was unclear how

:30:49. > :30:56.many were able to get out. Some were trapped inside,

:30:57. > :30:58.for some time at least, standing at windows in the desperate

:30:59. > :31:03.hope of rescue. Those trapped on the lower flowers

:31:04. > :31:07.could see fire crews trying to get to them,

:31:08. > :31:09.but higher up the building, the inferno was too intense

:31:10. > :31:16.to let rescuers get close. People living nearby,

:31:17. > :31:18.alerted by the smell of smoke, came to the site and filmed

:31:19. > :31:22.what they saw. Many had come to see

:31:23. > :31:25.if they could help, but with flaming debris falling from the tower block,

:31:26. > :31:29.their lives were at risk too. You need to ring 999,

:31:30. > :31:32.and there is a dedicated line On the ground, police cleared a wide

:31:33. > :31:37.cordon and closed the nearby A40 Some 200 fire engines were brought

:31:38. > :31:43.in to tackle the blaze. As the hours passed,

:31:44. > :31:46.the concern was whether the building might collapse and who might

:31:47. > :31:52.still be trapped inside. Many people were led to safety,

:31:53. > :31:57.but some 30 were taken to hospital. Others were counting

:31:58. > :31:58.their blessings. David Benjamin was in the block

:31:59. > :32:01.when the fire began. There was smoke everywhere,

:32:02. > :32:04.literally everywhere. There was bits of cladding

:32:05. > :32:09.falling off the block After a couple of minutes,

:32:10. > :32:14.obviously people were still sleeping on the higher floors,

:32:15. > :32:17.so they didn't have a clue I'm not even sure half of them got

:32:18. > :32:27.out, to be honest with. Daylight revealed the fire

:32:28. > :32:30.is still well alight - the situation still far from under

:32:31. > :32:32.control, and more stories emerging Me and my brother and some other

:32:33. > :32:36.people who live in the area ran over to the estate,

:32:37. > :32:39.where you could still get underneath it, and there's people

:32:40. > :32:41.throwing their kids out, "Just save my children,

:32:42. > :32:43.save my children." And like the fire brigade

:32:44. > :32:45.and the ambulance and the police couldn't do nothing,

:32:46. > :32:48.they couldn't get in, they was just telling them to stay

:32:49. > :32:50.there where they are, "We'll come and get you,"

:32:51. > :32:54.like things quickly escalated. How the fire began is still unclear,

:32:55. > :33:00.as is the full extent London Fire Brigade, though,

:33:01. > :33:16.has confirmed that a number Just keeping you up-to-date with the

:33:17. > :33:21.information coming into us in the last 15 minutes London Ambulance

:33:22. > :33:25.Service confirming that 50 people have been treated so far, taken to

:33:26. > :33:30.five London hospitals. You can see the live images on the screen now of

:33:31. > :33:36.what the tower block looks like this morning. A press conference in the

:33:37. > :33:39.last half hour from London's fire Commissioner confirming there has

:33:40. > :33:43.been a number of fatalities. Let's see what you have to say.

:33:44. > :33:57.upwards bot 40 fire engines and a range of specialist vehicles

:33:58. > :34:01.including 14 Fire rescue vehicles in attendance. Based on the level of

:34:02. > :34:04.resource that was needed in this fire, we declare this is a major

:34:05. > :34:10.incident very early this morning. London Fire Brigade took multiple

:34:11. > :34:18.calls to this incident, with the first call coming in at six minutes

:34:19. > :34:24.to one o'clock. Our first fire engines were on the scene in under

:34:25. > :34:28.six minutes. Crews wearing breathing operators and extended duration

:34:29. > :34:31.apparatus have been working in extremely challenging and very

:34:32. > :34:37.difficult conditions to rescue people and to bring this major fire

:34:38. > :34:40.under control. London Ambulance Service have confirmed that

:34:41. > :34:47.currently 30 people have been taken to five hospitals. At this time, I

:34:48. > :34:52.am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities. I

:34:53. > :34:57.cannot confirm the number at this time, due to the size and complexity

:34:58. > :35:01.of this building, and it would clearly be wrong for me to speculate

:35:02. > :35:06.further. Equally, the cause of this fire is not known at this stage. We

:35:07. > :35:12.will be here all day, and we will provide further updates. We working

:35:13. > :35:15.very closely with our colleagues at the Metropolitan Police and London

:35:16. > :35:19.Ambulance Service to bring this situation under control. Further

:35:20. > :35:23.information for the public will be made available shortly, including

:35:24. > :35:27.advice for those concerned about those who are working here and

:35:28. > :35:31.people who live here. The emergency services will continue to work with

:35:32. > :35:35.all agencies, including the local authority, to support all of those

:35:36. > :35:38.affected by this incident. Thank you very much. That was the London Fire

:35:39. > :35:43.Commissioner speaking earlier this morning. We have also heard from

:35:44. > :35:46.Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police, confirming that

:35:47. > :35:50.there have been a number of fatalities and there are others

:35:51. > :35:53.receiving medical care. As Charlie mentioned earlier, we understand now

:35:54. > :35:57.from the London Ambulance Service that 50 people have been taken to

:35:58. > :36:01.hospital. It is likely that Commander Stuart Cundy said that it

:36:02. > :36:04.is going to take some time before emergency services are in a position

:36:05. > :36:07.to confirm the cause of the fire. But also he has released a number

:36:08. > :36:13.for the casualty bureau... The Casualty Bureau's

:36:14. > :36:20.number is 0800 0961 233. This is a Noumbo for anybody who is

:36:21. > :36:24.concerned by loved ones in relation to the fight -- it is a number for

:36:25. > :36:29.anybody concerned about loved ones in the fire. This morning we are

:36:30. > :36:31.hearing some very harrowing stories of those caught up in the fire

:36:32. > :36:34.itself. Let's get the very latest

:36:35. > :36:36.now from Tim Muffett, who's at one of the rescue centres

:36:37. > :36:42.close to the fire. Tim, you have had a chance to speak

:36:43. > :36:46.to some of those who did successfully escape from the

:36:47. > :36:50.building? Yes, we did. Some truly harrowing tales as you say this

:36:51. > :36:54.morning, Charlie. People gathering here just talking to each other,

:36:55. > :36:57.crying, distraught at what has taken place. We spoke to Nikki Bella

:36:58. > :37:02.earlier. You were on the seventh floor. Just remind us what happened

:37:03. > :37:10.to you last night? Between 1am at 1:30am I was in bed, falling in and

:37:11. > :37:15.out of sleep. I was with my girlfriend, and our child. We have

:37:16. > :37:20.got candles and iPads in the flat, I smoked plastic, I jumped out of bed

:37:21. > :37:24.to track the plugs. I could still smell the smell. I went to the

:37:25. > :37:27.kitchen to have a cigarette. I opened the window, I heard people

:37:28. > :37:31.shouting and screaming, it's getting bigger. Straightaway I know that

:37:32. > :37:35.something is wrong. I go to the front door, I can see smoke.

:37:36. > :37:44.Everybody is screaming, get out, get out, there's a fire. I went out to

:37:45. > :37:51.grab my dressing down, the little girl and my girlfriend. We ran. It

:37:52. > :37:55.was like something out of the movie, it was horrific. The blaze was going

:37:56. > :37:59.quicker and quicker and quicker. Every floor, I could see people

:38:00. > :38:03.screaming at the windows. The next thing, the windows blowing up. It

:38:04. > :38:08.was like horror movie. Over the last few hours, people have been trying

:38:09. > :38:13.to sort of come to terms with what happened. I mean, there was a

:38:14. > :38:17.decision to get out as quickly as possible. It was instinct, get the

:38:18. > :38:22.kid out of there, make sure she's safe, there she is, bless her heart.

:38:23. > :38:27.They told us before, if there is a fire in that block, all you've got

:38:28. > :38:36.to do is put a towel underneath your talk and put a up because it is

:38:37. > :38:41.fireproof for one hour. But I wanted to get out there as quickly as

:38:42. > :38:44.possible. When you talk to other people you have been speaking to

:38:45. > :38:48.this morning, what have they been saying, similar stories? It's

:38:49. > :38:52.horrendous, people have lost people, they can't find their families. One

:38:53. > :38:56.woman on the top slot left with her six kids. When she got to the ground

:38:57. > :39:00.floor, there was only four of them with her. There were people on the

:39:01. > :39:03.phone saying they couldn't get out. The stairwell that we got out was on

:39:04. > :39:06.fire, that was the only escape route, thank God we got there when

:39:07. > :39:13.we did. It was just horrendous, you know. I mean, it's still blazing

:39:14. > :39:16.now, it's still blazing now. We've lost absolutely everything, but that

:39:17. > :39:21.can all be replaced. We're here, that the main thing, you know. The

:39:22. > :39:25.other people you have spoken to who were also in the block, was at the

:39:26. > :39:29.speed which took everyone by surprise? The block of flats had

:39:30. > :39:36.been covered in padding in the last few years and it looked like --

:39:37. > :39:39.covered in cladding and it looked like plastic. I always thought that

:39:40. > :39:49.was inflammable, it didn't look like something that would hold back a

:39:50. > :39:53.fire. As yet, we don't know... This is what I've heard of a few

:39:54. > :39:57.different people, a fridge exploded, this is the picture that I'm

:39:58. > :40:02.painting. Apart from the human tragedy, this is the thing about

:40:03. > :40:06.where people are going to live. Emergency centres are being opened

:40:07. > :40:10.up for emergency accommodation. I ran out with no clothes on. I've

:40:11. > :40:14.been given these tracksuit bottoms by someone on the street who had a

:40:15. > :40:18.bag with a load of clothes, one of the neighbours on the estate brought

:40:19. > :40:24.it out. Nobody had clothes when they were escaping from the block. So now

:40:25. > :40:28.we're here. The family is coming down. My mum is on her way. It's

:40:29. > :40:33.just lucky that we are alive. The phones were left in the house, they

:40:34. > :40:36.are trying to ring us but nobody is getting through and everybody is

:40:37. > :40:42.thinking the worst. Thank God I didn't fall into radio sleep. As you

:40:43. > :40:45.say, you rescued your daughter. I think it's probably time for you to

:40:46. > :40:50.spend some time together. Thank you. I'm so glad you did manage to get

:40:51. > :40:55.out, thanks very much indeed. One harrowing story there, one of many.

:40:56. > :40:59.Fortunately that one had a happy ending. But this morning, you stand

:41:00. > :41:04.here and look at people who are just completely devastated. And I'm

:41:05. > :41:09.convinced that we will hear many, many more harrowing stories as the

:41:10. > :41:11.day progresses. It is a truly desperate seeing. Indeed, Tim, thank

:41:12. > :41:16.you very much. We will warn viewers that there are

:41:17. > :41:22.many distressing stories that you are hearing. What we are seeing now

:41:23. > :41:26.this morning as Grenfell Tower, some seven hours after a fire broke out

:41:27. > :41:30.in the early hours of this morning in London, north-west London. There

:41:31. > :41:33.are still flames in the tower, and firefighters tackling get from all

:41:34. > :41:39.sides trying to this blaze under control. And the building under some

:41:40. > :41:45.control as well in terms of safety. There are concerns about its

:41:46. > :41:48.stability after such a huge fire. Which escalated very, very quickly,

:41:49. > :41:55.we hear, from eyewitnesses this morning. Many of the eyewitnesses

:41:56. > :42:00.say the same thing, which is that in a very short space of time what

:42:01. > :42:04.appears to have been some kind of explosion where the fire began,

:42:05. > :42:08.maybe on the fourth floor, the fire escalated very quickly. We heard

:42:09. > :42:13.mike talking about his first-hand experience of that. Let's hear

:42:14. > :42:16.another of the eyewitness accounts now and Joty Martin, who lives

:42:17. > :42:21.nearby and was one of the first on the scene.

:42:22. > :42:27.I've just been watching people in their windows flashing with their

:42:28. > :42:37.phones. And then watching those apartments get engulfed in flames.

:42:38. > :42:44.In my opinion, there's going to be a lot of dead people in that building.

:42:45. > :42:52.They just could not have got out. The second top window, I saw a

:42:53. > :42:56.family of three in there. And then slowly I've watched the smoke get

:42:57. > :42:59.worse and worse. They are clamouring to the windows. You can see them

:43:00. > :43:05.trying to wave blankets to try and get oxygen into themselves. And then

:43:06. > :43:10.slowly, one at a time, they've just not been at the window any more.

:43:11. > :43:12.Also in the other corner, the top corner of the apartment, the lady

:43:13. > :43:18.there was screaming for help. Her whole apartment was burnt out,

:43:19. > :43:22.everything is gone, and she didn't get out. My partner saw someone fall

:43:23. > :43:26.from there. I've seen people on the outside of the building clambering

:43:27. > :43:36.around. I saw a lady on the middle section of the window holding her

:43:37. > :43:43.toddler out, screaming for help. Yes, it's a disaster. And my opinion

:43:44. > :43:47.is that it's tens of casualties if not up to 100, you know. There's

:43:48. > :43:51.just no way people could have got out of there.

:43:52. > :43:58.Those are the images from the early hours of this morning, one of the

:43:59. > :44:02.eyewitness accounts there. These are the live images. If you look at the

:44:03. > :44:06.screen to the right, there are still fires burning within the tower block

:44:07. > :44:12.itself. It is worth saying in terms of the casualties and the injuries,

:44:13. > :44:16.it has been confirmed by emergency services, there are a number of

:44:17. > :44:20.fatalities there. We're not able to go into anybody tells at the moment.

:44:21. > :44:24.The London Ambulance Service also saying they have treated more than

:44:25. > :44:27.50 people taken to local hospitals. We can't talk now to our

:44:28. > :44:30.correspondents Andy Moore, who is 500 metres away from the burning

:44:31. > :44:43.building. Andy, good morning. Yes, you can see, eight hours

:44:44. > :44:47.utterly fire started, it is still burning. Every now and again, you

:44:48. > :44:51.think it must be burnt out, then it flares up again. The Fire Service

:44:52. > :44:56.are still got hoses playing on the bottom of the building, trying to

:44:57. > :45:00.stop the flames lower down. Higher up, it is being left to burn, there

:45:01. > :45:04.is nothing they can do about it. We have had statements now from the

:45:05. > :45:09.Fire Service, from the Ambulance Service, and from the police. The

:45:10. > :45:14.Fire Service has said that, sadly, there will be fatalities, they

:45:15. > :45:17.talked about dealing with an unprecedented fire. From the amylin

:45:18. > :45:22.service, that updated statement saying they are dealing with more

:45:23. > :45:26.than 50 casualties at five different hospitals. -- the Ambulance Service.

:45:27. > :45:31.We have also had a brief statement from the police, saying that they

:45:32. > :45:35.were sent to assist the Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service.

:45:36. > :45:40.They also confirmed that there have been a number of fatalities and a

:45:41. > :45:46.number of other people are receiving medical care, and they have also set

:45:47. > :45:50.up a casualty bureau. So the fire still burning, and those pictures,

:45:51. > :45:55.those stories are emerging of the people who may well have been

:45:56. > :45:58.trapped in that blaze overnight. Indeed, and you mentioned the

:45:59. > :46:02.casualty bureau, I will just update our viewers and the number for

:46:03. > :46:07.anyone who is concerned about loved ones. They should contact the

:46:08. > :46:17.casualty bureau. The number is on screen. Andy, we will take advantage

:46:18. > :46:20.of you being near the scene, you have been observing this throughout

:46:21. > :46:24.the morning, the cordon around the building, I mean there has been a

:46:25. > :46:33.lot of talk about the stability of this building. Of course, the flames

:46:34. > :46:36.still roaring inside, but that cordon has been expanded. Can you

:46:37. > :46:39.explain what you are seeing on the ground in terms of the numbers of

:46:40. > :46:44.emergency services, whereby Kuwait and have taken place in proximity to

:46:45. > :46:47.the building? -- where evacuations have taken place in proximity to the

:46:48. > :46:51.building? What happened when we first arrived was a police cordon

:46:52. > :46:56.was already in place at about two o'clock in the morning, but that was

:46:57. > :47:01.pushed back. The police officers, with some urgency, were shouting at

:47:02. > :47:04.people, saying they feared the building might collapse. The

:47:05. > :47:09.situation now, at this distance, is under control. I can see a lot of

:47:10. > :47:14.emergency vehicles down below me. We have just seen a table ladder

:47:15. > :47:19.arrived from the Surrey Fire Service, so an indication of the

:47:20. > :47:26.sort of resources that are being drawn into fight this fire. We know

:47:27. > :47:30.that there were 45 engines initially on the senior plants, with about 200

:47:31. > :47:38.firefighters. It may well be that there are even more resources here

:47:39. > :47:42.now. -- on the scene here. You can probably see a track with oxygen

:47:43. > :47:46.bottles being off-loaded. We have seen fire officers kitted up with

:47:47. > :47:50.that breathing apparatus, so we do not know if they are still going

:47:51. > :47:53.into the building, but certainly they are still kitted up and using

:47:54. > :48:00.that breathing Havret does. We know for sure that they went into the

:48:01. > :48:06.building, into the smoke-filled corridors and always to try to

:48:07. > :48:10.rescue people. And we have heard, Andy, about a coordinated effort by

:48:11. > :48:14.the emergency services. We had at the first call to the Fire Brigade

:48:15. > :48:18.was at six minutes before one o'clock this morning. The London

:48:19. > :48:23.fire commissioner said that the Fire Brigade was on the scene within six

:48:24. > :48:29.minutes, similar timescale from the Metropolitan Police as well, and 200

:48:30. > :48:33.firefighters, numerous emergency services at the scene, and also

:48:34. > :48:41.trying to keep people calm and controlled in the area as well. Yes.

:48:42. > :48:47.We arrived at two o'clock in the morning. We could see the fire, very

:48:48. > :48:51.intense fire from some distance. By then, it had been blazing for about

:48:52. > :48:56.an hour, and the whole building, from top to bottom, was ablaze. The

:48:57. > :49:00.emergency services were here in force at that stage, they had

:49:01. > :49:05.already established their cordons. What we could see in the early hours

:49:06. > :49:08.of the morning, perhaps three or four o'clock in the morning, you can

:49:09. > :49:13.see on the left-hand side of the building there is one portion, one

:49:14. > :49:17.corner that has not been damaged. You can see a hydraulic platform

:49:18. > :49:22.there, nobody on top, it is operated from the ground, and you can see the

:49:23. > :49:25.holes playing on the building there. We actually saw somebody at the

:49:26. > :49:31.window of one of those flats there, probably about the tenth floor.

:49:32. > :49:36.There were not flames in that particular section of the building,

:49:37. > :49:40.they came to the window, looked out, moved back in again, came to the

:49:41. > :49:45.window again. We can only presume that was a resident. We didn't see

:49:46. > :49:49.them after that. That section of the building hasn't been engulfed in

:49:50. > :49:53.flames, so we can only hope that the Fire Service managed to get inside

:49:54. > :49:59.the building, and from inside managed to rescue that particular

:50:00. > :50:03.person. Andy, thank you very much, our correspondent on the ground,

:50:04. > :50:06.about 500 metres from this building, Grenfell Tower in west London, which

:50:07. > :50:10.caught alight in the early hours of the morning. Firefighters and

:50:11. > :50:13.emergency services have been at the scene since around one o'clock this

:50:14. > :50:18.morning. You are watching extended coverage

:50:19. > :50:22.of a major incident in West London this morning, let's give you a sense

:50:23. > :50:25.of the building itself, Grenfell Tower, we understand 140 flats in

:50:26. > :50:32.all in the building, eyewitnesses and those who live there saying that

:50:33. > :50:35.around about 500 people live in the apartments, a mixture of families,

:50:36. > :50:38.many families living in this apartment block, but also elderly

:50:39. > :50:43.people as well. Eyewitnesses have been describing how some people were

:50:44. > :50:46.able to make an escape, obviously in the early hours of the morning.

:50:47. > :50:52.These are people emerging in their dressing gowns and pyjamas, making

:50:53. > :50:57.their way out of the blaze. At this stage, in terms of the official

:50:58. > :51:01.information we have, the emergency authorities say that there have been

:51:02. > :51:04.fatalities, that has been confirmed, they are unable to give specific

:51:05. > :51:09.numbers at this stage. London Ambulance Service confirming that

:51:10. > :51:13.more than 50 people have been attended to, taken to five London

:51:14. > :51:17.hospitals. London Ambulance Service also saying

:51:18. > :51:22.that more than 100 of our medics are working hard to respond to the

:51:23. > :51:26.incident, ambulances, advanced paramedics, trauma teams from

:51:27. > :51:30.London's air and villains, and staff managing the incident in a special

:51:31. > :51:36.operations area. Ash air ambulance. We are expecting a statement from

:51:37. > :51:39.London there Sadiq Khan in a few minutes, we understand that he has

:51:40. > :51:43.said that questions will need to be answered following this deadly fire

:51:44. > :51:48.at the Grenfell Tower block. So we are trying to give you a

:51:49. > :51:51.picture of the sequence of events, but practical problems being thrown

:51:52. > :51:54.up this morning because of the scale of the evacuation, all those

:51:55. > :51:57.questions about who may still be missing. Tim Muffett has been

:51:58. > :51:59.speaking to a local councillor. Well, I first received a call just

:52:00. > :52:02.after three o'clock this morning, I tried to ensure that the council's

:52:03. > :52:09.emergency planning team were able to provide support to people

:52:10. > :52:11.who'd been immediately affected and evacuated from the tower,

:52:12. > :52:14.and I'm pleased to say they've been able to do that, and we are at one

:52:15. > :52:18.of the centres now, and there The Fire Brigade are clearly

:52:19. > :52:21.in attendance on a massive scale, have been for several hours,

:52:22. > :52:24.and it looks like they will be When we have more information,

:52:25. > :52:30.clearly, we will share it, Tell us about this block of flats,

:52:31. > :52:37.what do we know about it? Do you know how many

:52:38. > :52:40.people live there? Well, there's 130 flats or

:52:41. > :52:43.thereabouts, but what we don't yet know is who was in those flats,

:52:44. > :52:46.clearly a fire in the middle of the night, it would suggest more

:52:47. > :52:49.people are at home than at other times of the day, and it may take

:52:50. > :52:52.them longer to evacuate. But we don't yet know how many

:52:53. > :52:59.people precisely were in there, or how many people may have been

:53:00. > :53:02.staying with friends or relatives or may have been absent,

:53:03. > :53:05.so that will need to be established. The emergency services,

:53:06. > :53:07.who are doing a wonderful job and are on site,

:53:08. > :53:09.will be here helping people Were you aware of any concerns

:53:10. > :53:16.raised about these flats before? Well, there's always concerns

:53:17. > :53:18.about high-rise buildings and what the five procedures

:53:19. > :53:20.are and what the fire There are fire regulations,

:53:21. > :53:30.blocks are regularly inspected. The organisation which runs

:53:31. > :53:33.the council's housing stock will commission regular inspections,

:53:34. > :53:37.and clearly there will need to be a thorough investigation

:53:38. > :53:39.as to what is being investigated here and what the cause of the fire

:53:40. > :53:43.was and why it appears Finally, you mentioned that -

:53:44. > :53:46.the speed at which the fire spread has taken so many

:53:47. > :53:48.people by surprise. So many people we're talking

:53:49. > :53:52.to this morning are astonished by that speed - is that

:53:53. > :53:54.what you've heard as well? Well, yes, obviously,

:53:55. > :53:57.when you come into the area, you can see how extensive the blaze

:53:58. > :54:00.is, and how it appears to have There will need to be a full

:54:01. > :54:04.investigation as to why the fire that started presumably in one flat

:54:05. > :54:16.spread so quickly. So we go back to the live images

:54:17. > :54:19.now, those of you who have been with us during this extended coverage,

:54:20. > :54:23.you will have seen the scale of the damage in some of the white shots,

:54:24. > :54:27.but when we look at these close-up images, you can see very clearly

:54:28. > :54:33.there are still flames coming from the building itself, and we know the

:54:34. > :54:39.fire officers are still on the scene now. But yes, still you can see,

:54:40. > :54:42.yeah, fires raging within the building itself, these are live

:54:43. > :54:47.images this morning. Emergency services have been coming

:54:48. > :54:51.together all morning, we understand that buyers services from the

:54:52. > :54:55.surrounding counties have been called to the scene to assist the

:54:56. > :54:58.London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service as well. We have

:54:59. > :55:02.been bringing new eyewitness accounts from people this morning,

:55:03. > :55:07.those who have escaped the blaze, helping people who live locally, in

:55:08. > :55:11.the area. Understandably, some of these have been very distressing and

:55:12. > :55:14.very emotional. I should just add this warning ahead of an account we

:55:15. > :55:20.are going to bring in. Tim Muffett has been talking to people, he spoke

:55:21. > :55:29.to a gentleman called Paul Littlejohn.

:55:30. > :55:33.That's right, yeah, I woke up at about 1:30am this morning

:55:34. > :55:36.to look across the road, and see the big Grenfell Tower in a towering

:55:37. > :55:42.There was just fire coming out of every window.

:55:43. > :55:48.People screaming, people jumping out on fire.

:55:49. > :55:50.Chucking ropes down that they had made out of

:55:51. > :56:01.Paul, the people you've been speaking to here, what else

:56:02. > :56:07.What other stories have you been hearing?

:56:08. > :56:15.People that have obviously not got out, and just

:56:16. > :56:19.upset about how it happened, and how this catastrophe could happen.

:56:20. > :56:26.In London, after it's just been refurbished.

:56:27. > :56:28.So, were there concerns raised before about the safety

:56:29. > :56:32.aspect at all? Not what I know.

:56:33. > :56:35.You'd think that after millions of pounds was spent on the tower block

:56:36. > :56:38.you'd think it would be safe, and you'd think that this event,

:56:39. > :56:40.even if a fire did happen through electric

:56:41. > :56:43.or gas, you'd think that that could not happen after spending

:56:44. > :56:51.As it is, it did happen, and the blaze has been

:56:52. > :56:54.going on since 1am this morning, which I think is just a complete...

:56:55. > :56:57.Well, terrible, pathetic, and not up to what it should be.

:56:58. > :57:06.Andy, you arrived in the early hours of the morning, and you watched as

:57:07. > :57:10.the fire took hold, and we're just waiting to get hold of Andy, but

:57:11. > :57:14.many of the eyewitnesses we spoke to said that, given that the fire

:57:15. > :57:18.began, we understand just before one o'clock, the early hours of the

:57:19. > :57:23.morning, what is clearly emerging is, very quickly, the flames

:57:24. > :57:28.engulfed many, many flaws of the apartment block. Indeed, the London

:57:29. > :57:36.Fire Brigade is saying that, essentially, the fire engulfed all

:57:37. > :57:40.but the first two floor. From the second floor upwards, extensive

:57:41. > :57:44.damage to the building. Andy has been at the scene since the early

:57:45. > :57:52.hours, can you bring us up to date, as we bring this edition of BBC News

:57:53. > :57:56.to a close, what you are seeing now? The fire has been burning for eight

:57:57. > :58:01.hours, every now and then you think it has burned itself out, but then

:58:02. > :58:06.it flares up again, and you can see perhaps, in the top left-hand

:58:07. > :58:13.corner, very fierce fire in that particular section of the building.

:58:14. > :58:16.Firefighters are using hoses on the ground, but they cannot reach up

:58:17. > :58:22.that high, so it is left to burn out of control. It has been burning for

:58:23. > :58:26.eight hours, and it continues to burn. There are fears for the

:58:27. > :58:30.structure of the building, you can see flaming debris still falling off

:58:31. > :58:35.it. The general public have been moved back for fear that the

:58:36. > :58:41.building might collapse. We cannot see the firefighters, they are

:58:42. > :58:44.behind the building in the foreground, but you can see their

:58:45. > :58:51.engines are very close to the building. So they are very close to

:58:52. > :58:55.the building, so there must be a fear, looking at the fierceness of

:58:56. > :58:59.the fire, that it could collapse. Andy, thank you very much for your

:59:00. > :59:03.coverage this morning. Andy describing the scene at the moment

:59:04. > :59:09.as firefighters continued to tackle the building, which still, as you

:59:10. > :59:14.can see, flames inside the building, we have reports that the fire began

:59:15. > :59:17.somewhere around the fourth floor, and quickly expanded, reaching the

:59:18. > :59:22.top floors. Many eyewitnesses this morning saying just how shocked they

:59:23. > :59:28.were at the ferocity and speed that this fires spread.

:59:29. > :59:33.The London Ambulance Service has said that it has treated more than

:59:34. > :59:37.50 people. More than 50 people have been taken to hospital. The London

:59:38. > :59:43.Fire Brigade has confirmed that there are a number of fatalities, as

:59:44. > :59:49.has the Metropolitan Police. They have urged the public to stay away

:59:50. > :59:58.from the area. This is where we leave you on Brexiteer. You can keep

:59:59. > :00:01.up-to-date with -- on breakfast. There will be continued coverage

:00:02. > :00:05.throughout the day on BBC News and updates on breakfast tomorrow from

:00:06. > :00:09.six A. Until then, goodbye.