23/06/2017 London News

Good evening from BBC London News, I'm Victoria Hollins.

As we've been hearing, thousands of people are being evacuated

from five tower blocks on a council estate in Camden, over safety fears.

Residents from 800 households will have to leave their homes

for between two to four weeks, because of concerns over

Our reporter Sonja Jessup is there for us now.

Let me just talk you through what we are seeing behind me. You may be

able to see yellow jacketed security staff. There are fire wardens

reassuring residents as they come out of the building. We have seen

young children carrying pillows and we've seen elderly people carrying

belongings. One lady cradling a baby. Many people say they are

frustrated by what has happened and some don't want to leave. I was

getting messages on my phone saying what's going on and I saw we were

being evacuated. People are going through the building, knocking on

doors, telling people to leave the building. I've been told by one of

the officials that everyone is meant to be out of the building and they

are sending people to the local leisure centre, where more

information will be given. Whether they are going to provide

accommodation or suggest people go to friends, I don't know yet. People

are being directed to the Swiss Cottage leisure centre just around

the corner. They are being given a sticker with a number on it. They

are being directed to mattresses on the floor. We are talking about 800

households being evacuated. Camden Council says it understands this is

very distressing for people, but it insists safety must come first.

Sonia, thank you. Could lives have been

saved at Grenfell Tower if the Fire Service had had access

to specialist ladders? And tonight, BBC London can

exclusively reveal that the service is now looking to buy vehicles

designed especially to access They can reach more than 100

metres into the sky. Far above, the 67 metre

height of Grenfell Tower. So are these the firefighting

platforms that could have saved lives if they'd been available

to London's firefighters last week. To have that there, it would have

been a game changer. That would have made such

a difference to our firefighters When they were trying

to fight the Grenfell Tower, the capital's firefighter groups

did not have access London's aerial platforms can only

reach 32 metres and BBC London has discovered this was flagged up four

years ago, after a fire at another block of flats,

Lakanal House, in Camberwell. We wanted to see recommendation

for platforms and ladders that could save people

in high-rise tower blocks. A specific manufacturer of high

platforms was even named in a fire safety experts report to lawyers

at that inquest. But no recommendation was made

and none of the highest So, could it have made a difference

at Grenfell Tower if they had been? BBC London invited the managing

director of that company to visit the remains of the tower

and his conclusion was immediate. With an aerial platform,

it could have been reached. Would it have reached

to the top floor? And this is one of those machines

at the company's base in Finland. They have been selling them

for more than 20 years. They're not cheap -

more than ?1 million for the 90 meter platform,

but by going up in one, This platform is about the same

height as London's tallest. We're pointing at it now and then

to a 64 meter water pump and then Of course, we don't know how much

use such a platform would have been at Grenfell given the intensity

of the fire and the layout of the streets, but the company's

promo video has one next We showed these pictures

to the London rep of The machine you've just

shown me is 90 meters plus. That would have made such

a difference to our firefighters Tonight, London's Fire Commissioner

revealed they are now looking We are fortunately just

about to replace our aerial fleet so as part of that we will look

at the new technology that allow us Although this disaster has already

provoked strong opinion about the causes of such a high

death toll, it will be up to the inquiry to decide

whether taller, firefighting platforms could have

made any difference. A school just a short distance

from Grenfell Tower has been paying tribute to some of its pupils

and teachers, who lost Avondale Park Primary's playground

is in the shadow of the tower. Emilia Papadopoulos

was invited to join them. # When I find myself

in times of trouble. Singing for the loved ones

they lost nine days ago. The Grenfell Tower fire

happened just 500 metres from Avondale Park Primary

and the pupils here are The emotion is still very raw,

but they're determined to focus on the good memories they have

of their classmates. I remember when I was

younger and some boys took She saw that I was upset

and went and asked the boys I remember in football

when she scored our first goal. I was happy for her and

we hugged each other. It's OK to cry, but it's also OK

to laugh and to keep We felt it's important

that they keep hold of the memories. Each classroom has created

a memory wall so that they and write them down,

lovely pictures, photos. The pupils also honoured

their friends memories by saying their name and releasing

a balloon for every person they knew Everyone here is still coming

to terms with this tragedy and like the adults, the children have

so many questions about how and why this happened yards

from their playground. # There will be an

answer Tomorrow will be rather cloudy

through the morning, Into the afternoon some scattered

showers are possible, but many places will remain dry

with some brighter spells. We'll see a maximum

temperature of 23 Celsius. Now for a look at the national

forecast with Tomasz Schafernaker. Good evening. Our weather has

reverted to something more like normal, as we head into the weekend.

By normal I mean cooler and I mean quite mixed. Today, we had sunshine,

particularly across southern and northern parts of the country. Those

Weather Watch pictures from Cornwall and from western scholars. In

between we had a band of cloud. Some outbreaks of patchy rain brought

about by this weather front. Notice the wave on the weather front. It

won't be clearing through quickly, it will be dawdling across England

and where is throughout the night, bringing loud and patchy rain. Some

patchy rain in Northern Ireland. Largely