:00:00. > :00:17.Good evening from BBC London News, I'm Victoria Hollins.
:00:18. > :00:20.As we've been hearing, thousands of people are being evacuated
:00:21. > :00:24.from five tower blocks on a council estate in Camden, over safety fears.
:00:25. > :00:27.Residents from 800 households will have to leave their homes
:00:28. > :00:31.for between two to four weeks, because of concerns over
:00:32. > :00:40.Our reporter Sonja Jessup is there for us now.
:00:41. > :00:46.Let me just talk you through what we are seeing behind me. You may be
:00:47. > :00:50.able to see yellow jacketed security staff. There are fire wardens
:00:51. > :00:53.reassuring residents as they come out of the building. We have seen
:00:54. > :00:59.young children carrying pillows and we've seen elderly people carrying
:01:00. > :01:01.belongings. One lady cradling a baby. Many people say they are
:01:02. > :01:10.frustrated by what has happened and some don't want to leave. I was
:01:11. > :01:13.getting messages on my phone saying what's going on and I saw we were
:01:14. > :01:17.being evacuated. People are going through the building, knocking on
:01:18. > :01:20.doors, telling people to leave the building. I've been told by one of
:01:21. > :01:23.the officials that everyone is meant to be out of the building and they
:01:24. > :01:27.are sending people to the local leisure centre, where more
:01:28. > :01:30.information will be given. Whether they are going to provide
:01:31. > :01:36.accommodation or suggest people go to friends, I don't know yet. People
:01:37. > :01:38.are being directed to the Swiss Cottage leisure centre just around
:01:39. > :01:42.the corner. They are being given a sticker with a number on it. They
:01:43. > :01:47.are being directed to mattresses on the floor. We are talking about 800
:01:48. > :01:51.households being evacuated. Camden Council says it understands this is
:01:52. > :01:54.very distressing for people, but it insists safety must come first.
:01:55. > :01:58.Sonia, thank you. Could lives have been
:01:59. > :02:01.saved at Grenfell Tower if the Fire Service had had access
:02:02. > :02:03.to specialist ladders? And tonight, BBC London can
:02:04. > :02:15.exclusively reveal that the service is now looking to buy vehicles
:02:16. > :02:22.designed especially to access They can reach more than 100
:02:23. > :02:30.metres into the sky. Far above, the 67 metre
:02:31. > :02:32.height of Grenfell Tower. So are these the firefighting
:02:33. > :02:35.platforms that could have saved lives if they'd been available
:02:36. > :02:37.to London's firefighters last week. To have that there, it would have
:02:38. > :02:39.been a game changer. That would have made such
:02:40. > :02:42.a difference to our firefighters When they were trying
:02:43. > :02:46.to fight the Grenfell Tower, the capital's firefighter groups
:02:47. > :02:48.did not have access London's aerial platforms can only
:02:49. > :02:53.reach 32 metres and BBC London has discovered this was flagged up four
:02:54. > :02:55.years ago, after a fire at another block of flats,
:02:56. > :02:59.Lakanal House, in Camberwell. We wanted to see recommendation
:03:00. > :03:04.for platforms and ladders that could save people
:03:05. > :03:09.in high-rise tower blocks. A specific manufacturer of high
:03:10. > :03:14.platforms was even named in a fire safety experts report to lawyers
:03:15. > :03:19.at that inquest. But no recommendation was made
:03:20. > :03:22.and none of the highest So, could it have made a difference
:03:23. > :03:30.at Grenfell Tower if they had been? BBC London invited the managing
:03:31. > :03:33.director of that company to visit the remains of the tower
:03:34. > :03:38.and his conclusion was immediate. With an aerial platform,
:03:39. > :03:40.it could have been reached. Would it have reached
:03:41. > :03:43.to the top floor? And this is one of those machines
:03:44. > :03:50.at the company's base in Finland. They have been selling them
:03:51. > :03:55.for more than 20 years. They're not cheap -
:03:56. > :03:58.more than ?1 million for the 90 meter platform,
:03:59. > :04:01.but by going up in one, This platform is about the same
:04:02. > :04:08.height as London's tallest. We're pointing at it now and then
:04:09. > :04:13.to a 64 meter water pump and then Of course, we don't know how much
:04:14. > :04:20.use such a platform would have been at Grenfell given the intensity
:04:21. > :04:23.of the fire and the layout of the streets, but the company's
:04:24. > :04:27.promo video has one next We showed these pictures
:04:28. > :04:32.to the London rep of The machine you've just
:04:33. > :04:39.shown me is 90 meters plus. That would have made such
:04:40. > :04:41.a difference to our firefighters Tonight, London's Fire Commissioner
:04:42. > :04:47.revealed they are now looking We are fortunately just
:04:48. > :04:53.about to replace our aerial fleet so as part of that we will look
:04:54. > :04:57.at the new technology that allow us Although this disaster has already
:04:58. > :05:02.provoked strong opinion about the causes of such a high
:05:03. > :05:06.death toll, it will be up to the inquiry to decide
:05:07. > :05:08.whether taller, firefighting platforms could have
:05:09. > :05:16.made any difference. A school just a short distance
:05:17. > :05:19.from Grenfell Tower has been paying tribute to some of its pupils
:05:20. > :05:22.and teachers, who lost Avondale Park Primary's playground
:05:23. > :05:27.is in the shadow of the tower. Emilia Papadopoulos
:05:28. > :05:31.was invited to join them. # When I find myself
:05:32. > :05:34.in times of trouble. Singing for the loved ones
:05:35. > :05:43.they lost nine days ago. The Grenfell Tower fire
:05:44. > :05:46.happened just 500 metres from Avondale Park Primary
:05:47. > :05:49.and the pupils here are The emotion is still very raw,
:05:50. > :06:00.but they're determined to focus on the good memories they have
:06:01. > :06:04.of their classmates. I remember when I was
:06:05. > :06:11.younger and some boys took She saw that I was upset
:06:12. > :06:15.and went and asked the boys I remember in football
:06:16. > :06:22.when she scored our first goal. I was happy for her and
:06:23. > :06:26.we hugged each other. It's OK to cry, but it's also OK
:06:27. > :06:35.to laugh and to keep We felt it's important
:06:36. > :06:40.that they keep hold of the memories. Each classroom has created
:06:41. > :06:43.a memory wall so that they and write them down,
:06:44. > :06:49.lovely pictures, photos. The pupils also honoured
:06:50. > :06:51.their friends memories by saying their name and releasing
:06:52. > :06:54.a balloon for every person they knew Everyone here is still coming
:06:55. > :07:00.to terms with this tragedy and like the adults, the children have
:07:01. > :07:04.so many questions about how and why this happened yards
:07:05. > :07:08.from their playground. # There will be an
:07:09. > :07:11.answer Tomorrow will be rather cloudy
:07:12. > :07:24.through the morning, Into the afternoon some scattered
:07:25. > :07:28.showers are possible, but many places will remain dry
:07:29. > :07:30.with some brighter spells. We'll see a maximum
:07:31. > :07:32.temperature of 23 Celsius. Now for a look at the national
:07:33. > :07:48.forecast with Tomasz Schafernaker. Good evening. Our weather has
:07:49. > :07:52.reverted to something more like normal, as we head into the weekend.
:07:53. > :07:56.By normal I mean cooler and I mean quite mixed. Today, we had sunshine,
:07:57. > :08:00.particularly across southern and northern parts of the country. Those
:08:01. > :08:04.Weather Watch pictures from Cornwall and from western scholars. In
:08:05. > :08:07.between we had a band of cloud. Some outbreaks of patchy rain brought
:08:08. > :08:11.about by this weather front. Notice the wave on the weather front. It
:08:12. > :08:15.won't be clearing through quickly, it will be dawdling across England
:08:16. > :08:18.and where is throughout the night, bringing loud and patchy rain. Some
:08:19. > :08:20.patchy rain in Northern Ireland. Largely