it"a so mr w mt “mr wit ii‘ul‘ei m mr "usfihll ilr my ltunf‘umjt lt‘u'fz qty an m coverage throughout the day on bbc news and updates here on breakfast from 6am. until then goodbye. good morning this. is bbc news. it's 9am. a huge fire has torn through a block of flats in west london. a number of fatalities have been confirmed and people are still thought to be trapped. there was smoke everywhere. literally everywhere. there was people downstairs. there was bits of the cladding falling off the block that was on fire. people screaming. after a couple of minutes because obviously people were still sleeping on the higher floors so they didn't have a clue what was going on. they need to ring 999 and there is a dedicated line for this incident, 0k? the emergency services were called to the grenfell tower in north kensington around 1am this morning with flames covering most of the block. crews wearing breathing apparatus

and extended duration breathing apparatus have been working in extremely challenging and very difficult conditions to rescue people and to bring this major fire under control. the building contains 120 flats. residents have been describing the horrifying scene they woke up to. residents were at the window, "help me. help me." you can see the fire going into the last room that they're in and just engulfing their whole apartment. the met police have set up a casualty bureau for concerned friends and family members. the phone number is: 0800 0961233. hello. good morning. this is north

kensington in london and behind me about 250 meters away is grenfell tower or in fact what remains of g re nfell tower. tower or in fact what remains of grenfell tower. you can see perhaps in the bottom left of your picture water from the fire service from the emergency services still, still being projected on to the tower. this is what, eight hours after the fire began. certainly eight hours after the calls were first made to the london fire brigade. what you

notice as soon as you get here is the smell. the burning smell of acrid smoke. all around us are charred remnants which have blown in the wind from that tower and all around us are shocked and devastated residents. people who have escaped from this tower, people who know people who live in the tower and people who live in the tower and people who live in the tower and people who were very confused about how a modern block of flats could be consumed by fire so rapidly in this country in 2017. this, you don't have to be a fire safety expert to know that something has gone chronically wrong. this is what we know so far. eyewitnesses say people are still trapped and there are fears that the tower block could collapse. more than 200 firefighters are still tackling the blaze to the right of your picture there

are flames in the middle of the tower block still. the building is thought to be at least 2a storeys high. london ambulance say 50 people are receiving hospital treatment and, "a significant number of people are thought to be unaccounted for." this morning we're going to show you footage that is distressing. footage that has been filmed by people who live here, local residents and this was the scene at around 4am. so three hours after the fire brigade received their first calls. this was the scene at around 4am. flames engulfing the entire building. eyewitnesses reported people being trapped in the block, desperately turning not only their lights, but their phone lights, the lights on their phone lights, the lights on their smartphones, trying to attract attention and call for help. residents heard people crying out,

"help me. help me." it has been reported that residents saw children being thrown out of the building in a desperate attempt to save them. we're going to talk to people who escaped from the tower this morning. we're going to talk to local residents. i mean this is absolutely devastating for this community clearly. i'm going to introduce you to someone i'm going to introduce you to someone who is with me. you escaped from your flat on the fourth floor. tell us what happened. it was just before 1am. my wife and i were in the sitting room. the kids were asleep obviously. you have two young children? yeah, two young children. a two—year—old and a three—year—old and a boy and a girl. there was a sudden bang on the door before 1am and when i went to investigate, i

was greeted by smoke and some dark cloud. so the bang at the door was someone cloud. so the bang at the door was someone knocking on your door? to alert us and once i opened the door there was so much smoke, i shut it. there was no one standing there because the person attempted to knock more doors. i got towels and wet them and i alerted my wife screaming, "fire. fire. fire." went into the kids room and wrapped the towels over their heads and proceeded to just exit the premises. it was so dark and there was so much smoke. there was people running down the stairs. some people even had luggage. there wasjust the stairs. some people even had luggage. there was just so much confusion. there was no sound of alarm or bells whatsoever. is there alarm or bells whatsoever. is there a fire alarm in grenfell tower? generally there would have been a fire alarm that would go off in such incidents, bau there was none and we

only heard that alarm after 1.30am. so, this was like an actual fail in terms of safety measures that should have been in place to alert the residents. so no fire alarm, but someone residents. so no fire alarm, but someone banging on your door, you get your wife and your two children? i knocked on the door on my right—hand side, i gave a good two kicks and kept running because at this point i didn't want the kids to be inhaling anymore more smoke. as you were trying to run down the stairs, how far ahead of you could you see? how dark was it? it was too dark. it was too dark. arm's length. arm's length. the hole fire started off on the fourth floor and i live on the fourth floor. how do you know that? because once we were going down the stairs and we came to the ground floor exiting the premises i was confronted by my neighbour who

lives at number 16. he said look, are you 0k? he was checking me and the kids? are you all right? is your wife? i know his wife was in the premises. i did show concern, where is your wife? he said no, premises. i did show concern, where is yourwife? he said no, it premises. i did show concern, where is your wife? he said no, it isjust me, it was my house, my fridge exploded. the guy who lived next door to you on the fourth floor said his fridge exploded? at which point the fire brigade were well aware of it. the supervising, the senior fire brigade were also there when they took some statement or some understanding from him what was going on. what time was that then? what time was it when you got out at the bottom of your block of flats? this is no later than 1.10am. 0k. at that point there was smoke on fourth floor, down the stairwell, clearly, in your next door neighbour's flat? it has gone up to the fifth floor through the stairs. the doors were

open because people were constantly going in and out. when you got out and you looked up at the tower block, where did you see flames or did you not at that point? when we got out, we were the first ten families that would have been out of that promises to be honest with you. with speed and just, we just went out. now, there was very small amount of fire on the whole premises. it would have been no higher than an average tree height. this would be in three rows of panels that were on fire. that we we re panels that were on fire. that we were by the green underneath g re nfell were by the green underneath grenfell and i had my child in my arms andi grenfell and i had my child in my arms and i said did you see fire? he was fascinated because he's only three. did it look like the emergency services are here, there is going to be more of them, they will project the water on to the blaze? it seemed like it was co ntrolla ble blaze? it seemed like it was controllable and everyone was

confident it was controllable. we we re very confident it was controllable. we were very close to the building. what happened then is very, very happenedly the flames started climbing up towards the right column of g re nfell tower. climbing up towards the right column of grenfell tower. we were like i said, we were the first few people and we are seeing the fire brigade and we are seeing the fire brigade and the emergency services, we see it that it can be tackled. they can probably swing this the fire engines, but there are bollards that are blocking off the fire brigade from coming into the green and parking. there were hoses everywhere. the fire brigade were doing their best. they were gathering information and intelligence from the residents who came out as to where the incident and the fire was taking place, what they know so far. so the residents we re they know so far. so the residents were giving as much information to the fire service, but also there was a sense of hesitation from the fire brigade because they weren't willing

to tackle this. it was not tackled straightaway in a sense, this hose on the fire brigade activity starting well into 2am and maybe 3am sorry. now... that's not the information that we're getting from the fire brigade, but... no, but in terms of tackling the fire and letting out the water and more in support units for the fire brigade arriving, it was not until about 3am. this took a significant amount of time. even my personal house keys is what i gave to the fire brigade as they couldn't gain access to the building itself. so when we were out, we came just to the front door, i set the kids down. are you 0k? the door slammed shut. the fire brigade couldn't even get into the blag. building. soi couldn't even get into the blag. building. so i said here, there is my keys, take the fob. so i gave them my fob. they can smash the door down. they were stuck. they had a

lot of equipment they wanted to take into the premises. some of the equipment was oxygen tanks. so i am assuming with the policy in grenfell tower, it's a case of emergency services and fire, there is a stay put policy. what do you mean? who is imposing that policy? where is that coming from? there is a sticker all around every floor by the lifts that says, "in case of an emergency, there is a stay put policy if you are within your premises stay put." in this case what i assumed because they were going up, they were going to ta ke they were going up, they were going to take as much oxygen tanks up. but access and not gaining access and also the fire support units not having the right access into the building was a bit of a struggle. by

this time, the right column of the building was already engulfed in flames. the left—hand side of the building and the middle column where would be the stairwell looked cleaner and a lot less disturbances. at which point there is more explosions and bangs and like purple blue flames. it was rapid. the fire was growing well out of control. can i ask you why you think the fire consumed grenfell tower so speedily? we don't know, but you've lived there for how long? i've lived there since february, but since february i have been campaigning against the shortfalls that have been happening at grenfell tower. i have been speaking to the housing officers and the representatives... that's the management? about gas pipes being

stored on the stairwell which are has hardous and in the case of a fire that could easily explode. that is causing a lot of people not to go down the stairs. with the explosions the people on the higher level would have stayed in their place as it is much more safer. there was no lift in this situation. there is only the stairs. the stairs, there is smoke. it's dark, it's scary. it's a trip hazard. there was all sorts, there is elderly, there is children, there is elderly, there is children, there is disabled people, there is luggage in the stairwell. some lights were not working. so it was so dark in there. it's incredible. it's incredible we survived. so many people were left inside. we had so many relatives and family that called and said, "we are still trapped. let the fire service know we are still here." a kid called to say he was trapped in his room. it's

a very horrible situation. lives have been lost. i can confirm that lives have been lost there have been fatalities of some of our friends and some of ourfamily and fatalities of some of our friends and some of our family and some fatalities of some of our friends and some of ourfamily and some of our loved ones and neighbours. i'm really sorry. it's heartaching. it really sorry. it's heartaching. it really is. you just don't know, right now, we can only offer prayers. we can only offer support to the people who have lost loved ones. we can only pray for those who have passed away. we can only praise the fire service for their efforts. we can only prays the emergency services for their efforts in trying to make some sort of sense and save as many people as they can. this was really horrific. there is people who we re really horrific. there is people who werejumping really horrific. there is people who were jumping out of the place.

really horrific. there is people who werejumping out of the place. there isa man werejumping out of the place. there is a man who threw two of his children. wow. we saw a lot. we saw a lot with our own eyes. we saw friends, families... it's all right, you do not up to say any more. i am so sorry. mahad really emotional and distressed but managed to tell us in an incredibly articulate way how he escaped grenfell tower with his two young children and his wife, some incredibly distressing descriptions of some of the people who lived in the tower and did manage to get out. simone helped a lot of people, tell

us simone helped a lot of people, tell us how you helped? around 1230 i was in my living room and heard a lot of sirens and helicopters, but i know my road is blocked off so i was wondering where they were going to. asa wondering where they were going to. as a nurse it's my duty to help so i came outside, i saw people running, i asked willey were running and they said there was a fire. i ran to the cordon and told them i was a nurse, cani cordon and told them i was a nurse, can i help and they said sure. they station me beside the leisure centre. i have seen some things but today i cannot even describe it. mothers have come out and lost children. firefighters have come out injured, we don't know if they can come out safe. the police, they were amazing. at one point, around 1:30am, around about 30 men, i don't know where they appeared from and

they were all trying to rush towards they were all trying to rush towards the building and it was very unsafe, i tried to help the police to calm them down, they said the police did not care about them, but that was not care about them, but that was not true, the police did care about them. it was horrendous. as a community i don't know how we will get over this, i am not interested in the whys and the house, it is how do we move forward? what do we do as a community? people have lost homes, children have seen things, people we re children have seen things, people werejumping children have seen things, people were jumping out the window. we just need to rebuild as a community now. there are many questions, simone, thank you for talking to us, we really appreciate it. there are many of you watching who will know exactly where we are right now but for those around the country let me try to describe where we are, we are about 250 metres or so from grenfell

tower. behind me is latimer road tube station, you can see the railway line there just in front of the tower, that is the underground line. from latimer road it takes you to ladbroke growth which is notting hill, the borough is kensington and chelsea, one of the richest in the country. i spoke to the council leader earlier who said it's very early stages. he had no steer on how this buyer managed to spread so rapidly. now steer on the cause. he said what they needed to establish is the many people were in the flats. we know there were at least 120 apartments, we do not know how many were in each of the flats. he says it is devastating, he thanked

the emergency services and confirmed g re nfell tower the emergency services and confirmed grenfell tower had been recently refurbished. he went on to tell me that my understanding is it would have had to pass a number of stringent fire safety regulations after the refurbishment. we will try to talk to him alive later on, the leader of kensington and chelsea council. let me introduce you to more local residents, moira, and linda, thank you so much for talking to us. this is absolutely devastating for this community. it's absolutely shocking. because they have, i'm afraid, been some cause for concern on the safety of g re nfell tower. for concern on the safety of grenfell tower. so in some ways it's horrific but in some ways it was i feel it was an accident waiting to happen. the concerns you are referring to come from the grenfell

action group who wrote a blob post in november last year, warning there would be some kind of catastrophe and stating, i think it will take a loss of life for people to take our concerns seriously. absolutely. they warned about the instructions residents had been given about what to do ina residents had been given about what to do in a fire, about some of the safety features around the building especially given there had been a lot of building work around there and the residents felt their safety had not been taken seriously in light of the fact we had had a fire in the borough, and in 2013 there had been a massive power surge which had been a massive power surge which had concern a lot of residents. i think that worries us as local residents about the extent to which the borough is taking seriously the safety of council tenants. this is a

council owned block but it is run by an management agency. let me ask you what you first heard and saw, what you could smell in the early hours this morning? i heard the helicopter circulating and i went and got into my living room, i live on the corner and there is another tower block just there. i thought, it would like a fire in the window sol just there. i thought, it would like a fire in the window so i went and got my husband, i said i think it's a light and he said no, it's a reflection. i walked out the back and this way was all red, it must've been reflecting. we ran down that way and all the side was on fire, about 2am. there were people screaming. but their windows. about 2am. there were people

screaming. but theirwindows. it about 2am. there were people screaming. but their windows. it was going to the middle and there were people at the top window in the corner and i was shaking, please let somebody help them, i could hear women and all that. there were big blue flames and banging and everything was falling. the light was on and then it went to the middle and over and the light went out and i just middle and over and the light went out and ijust turns and is it went up. and what did you first see or hear or smell, that is the one thing which strikes me coming here, we are surrounded by bits of charred remains from the debris which has blown out of the tower and you can smell that acrid smoke. at around quarter to two i was woken up by my son who said you need to come and look on the balcony because grenfell

i look on the balcony because grenfell , there is a block on fire, a flat on fire. i went on the balcony and there was only a section at 145 that was on fire. at that point i said thatis was on fire. at that point i said that is awful, it reminds me of the fire at hammersmith, hopefully the fire at hammersmith, hopefully the fire brigade are dealing with it. i then actually fell back asleep but was woken up an hour later, went back on the balcony and by this time my daughter was in floods of tears and said she had been called by a number of her friends in the area saying they were down stairs at g re nfell saying they were down stairs at grenfell and people were calling for help. i went back on the balcony and by then the flames had taken over and spread quite rapidly. by 4am the whole building was on fire, it was shocking. i just whole building was on fire, it was shocking. ijust hearing sadiq khan is going to give news conference at quarter to ten, about 20 minutes

time, we will bring that to you live. he has already said this morning questions will need to be a nswered morning questions will need to be answered following the deadly fire at the london tower block. some residents have said to me the building had been refurbished recently, the last six months, and external cladding could potentially bea external cladding could potentially be a problem, we do not know of course. we heard from mahad who said his neighbour had had some kind of fridge blow—up which could have potentially started a fire, what are you hearing in terms of the refurbishment? i think all of us have talked about the cladding, we have talked about the cladding, we have talked about whether or not, because i think for us it's quite shocking... is it the same that is on that school? to the left, you can see the green and blue, is that plastic? i am not sure. is that a

school? yes. so that is the same cladding on the school you can see in your picture which was on the whole of the tower block? when they rebuilt the school and refurbished the sports centre, the swimming pool the sports centre, the swimming pool, they put on as a kind of compensation for the tower that had endure two years of building work, they put the cladding on. this is a tower block built in 1974, it is not old and credit, it should withstand all sorts one would have thought. my brother is terrified, he lives in the tower block over there on the 17th floor and now he has said he's not going to sleep at night, they should have sprinkler systems, he said, how will he know if there is a

fire on the forest floor? he is scared to death. there should be sprinkler systems, in this day and e, sprinkler systems, in this day and age, going, water systems, so when there is a fire it comes on. how they can put people in them, and there are loads of tower blocks here all with the same problem and it's got to be done because my brother is on the 17th floor and scared for his life now. because it is up and down in shepherd's bush, not long ago. we do why were worry about the closure of fire stations which borisjohnson has implicated across london, what effect that has on support services to deal with a disaster like this. thank you both, my era and linda, thank you for your time. —— moira

and linda. what we know so far is a huge and devastating blaze has consumed a tower block here in north kensington. it is in the middle of two tube stations between latimer road and ladbroke grove. we now people are being treated in hospitals across london. it has been confirmed there are fatalities, at least 120 flat in grenfell tower, we have no idea how many people were in those flats last night. we will show you some footage now which is distressing, upsetting as you would expect from a story of this nature. it shows an individual at a window waiting for help. this footage was taken earlier and we know that that particular area of the tower is not as badly fire damaged as other parts. i'm going to introduce you to our

reporter... i'm going to introduce you to our reporterjim reed who has been finding out more about what the g re nfell finding out more about what the grenfell action group have been concerned about in recent months. tell us what know, jim? concerned about in recent months. tell us what know, jim? a lot of people on social media talking about this. a post in november talking about fire safety and concerns that we re about fire safety and concerns that were raised with various authorities about it. writing back in november,

"0nly about it. writing back in november, "only a catastrophic event would expose these issues." and concerns about getting fire trucks and police vehicles up to the building itself. now the person who wrote the blog post doesn't want to talk on camera, but i have come off the phone to him. he is very, very shaken up as you would imagine. he was on the 16th floor of that building. he says he only got out by the skin of his teeth. he said he wrapped a wet towel around his mouth. a fireman's hand grabbed him towards the stairs and he got his way down. he says, this has come out again and again from other people. no fire alarm. he could hear no fire alarm in that block. he said he was woken by a neighbour's smoke alarm. he talks about warning signs in the building. he says under pressure from this action group they contacted the authorities and about six months ago they did put in some warning signs

in the block to tell people what to do in the event of a fire. but the warning signs said, "stay inside your flat. board it warning signs said, "stay inside yourflat. board it up. that should give you an hour's worth of time." the speed at which the fire spread means that advice didn't work in this event. he said some of the other blocks in the area, they complained as well, they have not yet received the warning signs so he is very angry about what is happening. and in terms of the people that we have both been speaking to this morning, a lot of confusion. devastation, people have lost friends and relatives. there is two things that come out, i think and this came out from the interview you did earlier on. the idea that this started on the fourth floor of the block and there is lots of talk about this being a fridge fire. it is unconfirmed, but multiple people told us. the other thing is the idea of cladding on the outside of the building. the building we

refurbished a year ago and it is something to do with that school. there was concern when they were building that new academy and as compensation for that they agreed to put the cladding on the outside of the building. a lot of people talking about how quick the fire spread and how the cladding could be blamed for that, no confirmation, but a lot of people talking about it. thank you, jim. we are but a lot of people talking about it. thank you, jim. we are awaiting a news conference from the fire and ambulance services. of course, we will bring that to you. that's due any moment now. an emergency number has been set—up for anyone concerned about friends or relatives in the fire. this number is: 0800 0961233. that is just for people who are worried about loved ones and who are perhaps trying to find out where they are. let's talk to someone

else. hi, how are you? i'm fine, thank you. hi, i'm victoria. thank you very much for talking to me. and kath burns is here, one of our reporters. i think some of your friends were in the tower, is this correct? i have heard a couple of classmates that were in this tower. 0ne classmates that were in this tower. one of them made it out safely alive. he is one of my friends. i'm not sure about the other one, but i'm praying and yeah... how old are you? i'm14 years i'm praying and yeah... how old are you? i'm 14 years of age. 14? yes. where do you go to school? that academy over there. which is closed today. yeah. presumably a number of pupils from that school live in that tower block? a lot of them live in that tower block. there have been a couple of girls missing that attended the school before. they can't find them. one of them has been found, i'm not sure about the other one. there has been people saying that one of the girl's sisters is in the block. she is only

eight years of age and she is still in the building right now as we speak. it's quite touching and sad. how are you? yeah, i'm just fine. i'm just happy that i am still alive because this could happen to anyone. this really could happen to anyone. asi this really could happen to anyone. as i look around me, just behind you, there is another tower block over there. it doesn't have that cladding on and there is one, i mean there is one right here. this is whitstable house, this is traditional brick. that's my tower block. that's where you live. is it 0k living there? yeah, it's good. of course, like, i don't think the fire would have turned out as bad as this as there is no materials, just concrete, but due to them refurbishing it and using different types of materials obviously they would have set fire. i mean we don't know if that's one of the

contributory factors to the fire spreading rapidly, but something went chronically wrong, that's clear because in this day and age a fire should not spread as quickly as it did. thank you very much. we hope you find your friends. thank you. kath, hi, good morning to you, you have been talking to lots of people, as well? people are just absolutely devastated. i walking down the road about an hour ago on this side of the building when a group of people just started pointing out and they started yelling to the paramedics saying they could see someone waving. this is at 8.30am? 8.30am and there was about four different people convinced they had seen a man waving something white, a t—shirt, a pillowcase, they said he was waving half—way on the 11th floor and he just collapsed. nothing has been seen just collapsed. nothing has been seen since. we don't know if what they saw is true, but they are

convinced it's what they saw. how high up the tower was that? it's about half—way up. high up the tower was that? it's about half-way up. right, 0k. high up the tower was that? it's about half-way up. right, ok. i have been staring up at that windowjust to see, it is just ridiculous to see if anything has happened and i can't see a thing, but the people i spoke to, i went back and they are utterly convinced that they saw somebody. thank you very much, kath, thank you. this is bbc news. i am going to give you that emergency number again for people who maybe concerned about missing loved ones. the number is: 0800 0961233. this is what we have learnt this morning from talking in particular to mahad, a father of two who escaped from the fourth floor at about1.30am. escaped from the fourth floor at about 1.30am. someone was banging on his door, his next door neighbour and he opened the door to thick smoke. so he woke up his wife and

his two young children. one aged two, one aged three. he put wet towels around their heads. he left his flat and through dark smoke. he could barely see in front of him. he managed to get down the stairs with his family and out of grenfell tower and that was about 1.30am, 2am. as he told us, as he looked up at the tower, there were flames no further than perhaps the fourth storey which was his, the floor that he lived on. and he described the fact that it wasn't much longer than that that the flames began to shoot rapidly up the flames began to shoot rapidly up the tower block. we can talk now to our correspondent wyre davies, where are you and what's the latest? yes, we are at the corner of lancaster road. this is half a mile from the tower block itself which is still on fire. we have got a press conference which is about to start with dany

cotton which is about to start with dany cotto n fro m which is about to start with dany cotton from the london fire service and stuart cundy and paul woodrow. these three individuals are arriving now. we'll go live to that press conference as soon as now. we'll go live to that press conference as soon as they are in position. we already know, of course, there have been several fatalities today. we are not sure of the numbers, but let's go live to the numbers, but let's go live to the three commissioners as they speak now. good morning, everybody. at six minutes to one london fire brigade received the first of many calls to a fire in grenfell tower that you can see behind me. the first crews we re can see behind me. the first crews were on can see behind me. the first crews were on scene can see behind me. the first crews were on scene in under six minutes and found a rapidly developing fire. as you can appreciate from looking at the building now, this has been a very serious and a very complex fire. 0ur firefighters on scene have been working tirelessly and continue to do so to extinguish the fire and search the building for any remaining people inside. we have had

at the height over 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines on scene with a range of specialist officers. we have been working closely with all of our partners to establish what is going on here. we will continue to work closely in the coming hours and days to look at the cause of this fire and to investigate what has happened. we have got a structural engineerwho in happened. we have got a structural engineer who in conjunction with my urban search and rescue advisor is monitoring the stability of the building. at the moment the building continues to be safe for our crews to go and work in. i want to thank everybody who has been involved in this ins didn't so far, what has beena very this ins didn't so far, what has been a very difficult time and send oursi sear been a very difficult time and send our si sear condolences to everybody involved in this really terrible incident. as you can appreciate this isa very incident. as you can appreciate this is a very difficult time. it is still in a dynamic stage of this

incident and it would be wrong for us incident and it would be wrong for us to cause about the —— to speculate about the cause of the fryer or anything further at this moment. we have taken over 50 patients to hospitals across london. and clearly, our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic events. we have over 100 of our medics working hard here in response to this incident including emergency ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, specialist trauma teams, and hazardous response teams. we continue to work closely with our partners from the london fire brigade and the metropolitan police service. our priority is to ensure that patients get the treatment that they need and are conveyed to hospital as quickly as possible. whilst we continue to manage this ongoing ins didn't i would like to ask londoners to only call us in a

genuine emergency and if they could call nhs 111 for any urgent health ca re call nhs 111 for any urgent health care requirements, thank you. good morning, everybody. as you've heard this is a very much a dynamic situation at this point in time and clearly my thoughts go out to all those who have been affected and all those who have been affected and all those residents that are currently displacedment we are working with collea g u es displacedment we are working with colleagues from the london fire brigade. there are significant number of police officers here in this locality and i know there is significant disruption both in term of road closures, and other travel closures and if you are travelling in this area please go to the tfl website, but i would urge keep to keep away from that vicinity. if you have any concerns, any concerns, about anybody connected to this awful, awful event, please phone the casualty bureau. the number has gone out. but to repeat it. it's 0800 0961 233 0800 out. but to repeat it. it's 0800 0961233 0800 0961233. that's 0800 0961 233. and if you have any concerns, please

use that number rather than dialling 999 or 101. if you are a displaced resident, the current reception centre being co—ordinated by the local authority is at the portobello trust. the local authority will be putting out through their press state m e nts putting out through their press statements as well. as i say, this isa statements as well. as i say, this is a very dynamic situation. it is very early days. as you can see behind me us at grenfell tower, this isa behind me us at grenfell tower, this is a truly, truly shocking fire that's occurred overnight and my thanks to the colleagues from the lfb for the sterling work that they're doing at this point in time. reporter: any word about the integrity of the building itself? there have been concerns from residents about fires in the past, what can you say about the integrity of the building? it is far too early to speculate about the building itself and that will be subject to an investigation in the future. stru ctu rally at an investigation in the future. structurally at the moment it is safe for our crews to be in there

working, but i will not comment any further about the building itself. you mentioned fatalities, have we any numbers or updates about fatalities from the incident? no, as you can appreciate it's still very early days on that. we're working closely with our colleagues in the las. as soon as numbers become available. you're live on good morning britain. iwas available. you're live on good morning britain. i was told by a fire officer that you only managed to clear the first 12 to 13 floors and anything above that, your fire officers weren't able to go inside the building and put the flames out. can you give us some detail? we are still working very ha rdment can you give us some detail? we are still working very hardment we rescued large numbers of people from inside the building very early on across a range of different floors. i have spoken to crews who have been up i have spoken to crews who have been up as faras i have spoken to crews who have been up as far as the 19th and 20th floor. we are making steady progress in going through the whole building. inaudible iam unaware. inaudible i am unaware. it is too early to

speculate and not appropriate when we are dealing with such a dynamic incident. we have no idea. what we would ask if there are any displaced residents who have not reported themselves to the local rest centre or to the police, please make yourself known so we can check you off against the list of people we believe was in the building. that's very important. any residents from the building if you have not reported in or told somebody where you are, please do that, it is very important, not only for us to account for, but for your loved ones who are making contact with the rest centres. the three commissioners with a dramatic update on what has been happening in west london. we know there have been fatalities. several people have been taken to hospital and there are concerns about the integrity of the building itself. we have been hearing from some residents that concerns were raised before today about the structure of the building and whether or not it represented a fire hazard, but the most, the biggest

concern now is to to account nor all the residents, to treat the injured and to clear the area because there are concerns about the integrity of the building. back to you. goal and thank you very much, if you arejust tuning in, the london fire brigade commissioner of seeing a structural engineer is monitoring the stability of the building but it appears safe for now. one or two residents saying they are of course consumed by the fa ct they are of course consumed by the fact people are still being searched for in the building, they are worried about the stability of g re nfell tower. worried about the stability of grenfell tower. but as we have just heard, the london fire brigade commissioner says a structural

engineer is monitoring the stability of the building and it appears safe for now. we are expecting a news conference from the mayor of london sadiq khan, as soon as he starts speaking we will bring it to you. we can talk to the reverend of saint clement ‘s church which as i understand it is about 300 yards from grenfell tower, can you hear me 0k? yeah, can you hear me? i can, thank you for talking to us. tell us who you are looking after right now? sorry, the helicopter is directly overhead, could you repeat the question? tell us about the people you're helping work after at the moment? the church has been open since about 3am. hundreds of people have come to the church. many of

them evacuated from housing around them evacuated from housing around the tower and we are also serving as an information point for people who are looking for people. we are operating inaudible just round the corner from us but we are helping hundreds of people. who need a place to rest for the time being. what kind of things are people saying to you about what they witnessed, what they experienced? people obviously acutely distressed. my people obviously acutely distressed. my main effort at this stage has been to provide people with the basic things they need, water, brea kfast, basic things they need, water, breakfast, tea and coffee. we have been catering, giving them a toilet

to go to, there's been a massive community response. people have been bringing in supplies since 3m. it's been largely a question of coordinating this fantastic community response. how long do you think they will be there, do you have any idea?|j how long do you think they will be there, do you have any idea? i do not have any idea and do not want to speculate. people had been evacuated from their homes so we have to wait and see when it is safe to return. we are planning for the rest of the day, we'll be providing lunch, supper and if necessary we will also provide people with a place to stay overnight. but we hope it would come to that. of course. you mentioned

the community helping out, i have bumped into allsorts of people, jade carrying a trolley full of water, it had been given to herfree, it had been brought down to close where i am broadcasting, i have seen bags of bla nkets am broadcasting, i have seen bags of blankets and dressing gowns, people having to leave their homes, some in a state of undress, do you need anything else you are, more provisions? to be honest i think we are, we have more provisions than i ever would have expected, people have been so incredibly generous. i don't want to discourage people from bringing water or maybe blankets, they are always useful, but the community response has been fantastic so far. thank you very much for talking to us. saint clement church is about 300 jars from grenfell tower. this is the

emergency number to call if you concern for missing loved ones, 0800 0961 233. we concern for missing loved ones, 0800 0961233. we are going to cross to another church not far from where i am, the latimer community church, what is happening there? yes, i think we are about 200 metres inaudible people have been gathering since 2am inaudible and had been evacuated from nearby homes. 0ccasionally when the wind blokes you get big chunks of charcoal falling through the air, this children's maths book was floating through the air inaudible i'm going to interrupt, i apologise,

it's just really difficult to hear you so it's just really difficult to hear you so we are it's just really difficult to hear you so we are going to try to establish a better line. in the meantime we will talk to glenda, thank you very much for talking to me, tell us what you saw, what you heard last night? first of all i heard last night? first of all i heard the helicopters which is what woke me up this morning. then when i came down here i saw the fire going from the bottom of a leap to the top and saw a lot of debris. i was with my daughter, she is a nurse and we went to the pub not too far down and there are quite a few casualties there. because my daughter is a nurse we were treating some of the casualties. a lot of them had masks

because they had inhaled a lot of smoke, those who were actually in the building. mothers, children, fathers, even an man assisting a little child. at the moment my daughter is in hospital i think because we were standing over here for quite a few hours, she inhaled some smoke so she is at hospital. you can still taste it this morning, it gets to the back of your throat. thank you so much for talking to us, what did you see last night? we were walking about 1:15am by the sound of screams and sirens, we could hear people screaming for help. where do you live? i'm staying with relatives in another part of the lancaster estate, we were about five minutes walk from the tower itself. we could hear helicopters and once we looked out the window and saw the tower was

on fire we started to panic, screaming out to the neighbours to wa ke screaming out to the neighbours to wake up and start contacting friends because we know friends of friends and relatives in grenfell tower. did you showed from your building? yes, just trying to wake up the area and get everyone roused. ten minutes later we threw on some clothes and we nt later we threw on some clothes and went down and got close to the police cordon and stayed there for a few hours just watching. police cordon and stayed there for a few hoursjust watching. at about quarter past one you said? that is right. how far up the tower had the fla mes right. how far up the tower had the flames gone? i was taking videos at 130 and it was right from the bottom and straight to the top and moving across the building. the movement of the fire across the building did not ta ke the fire across the building did not take more than half an hour, 1:30 am- take more than half an hour, 1:30 am— 2am. by 2am it was all in flames. that is extraordinary. it

was really, really fast. that is something sadly you associate with the slums of the developed world, that speed of fire hold. we were so shocked, we felt like people are going to be killed by this, the feeling we got was that this was a situation which cannot be stopped. especially as we knew the fire engines which were sent were not sufficient, they could not get close enough because that is a known problem with how these estates are laid out. what do you mean they could not get close enough? there are all these greens which stop car is getting too close to the buildings and where there are pathways they are blocked by pollard 's or have not been updated to allow for the movement of emergency vehicles and it's a big problem. people are unaccounted for in safety plans for a lot of this state. you can see why the greens are here, it brea ks can see why the greens are here, it breaks up the concrete, it is

attractive to look at, green space and so on and so forth but if it stops, if you look at the green behind us, there is a metalfence around it and pollard ‘s at the end but usually there are keys so they drop in the grounds of vehicles can get through. you would hope so, but these are old roads, not enough has been done to make sure everyone can been done to make sure everyone can be saved. there is no fire escape that you can really see, a lot of questions around safety and security for people on this estate. yeah, glenda, do you know people who live there? i do. three of our members live in this tower block so i am concerned. i have also heard there is somebody on the 18th floor who is disabled, housebound. so my concern

is how they could have gotten out... this is absolutely... unbelievable isn't it? my heart really goes out to the people. evenjust looking isn't it? my heart really goes out to the people. even just looking at the building, being told to stay in the building, being told to stay in the building, being told to stay in the building i was wondering to myself how are these people getting out of the building? from that, i knew a lot of people were going to die. if we look at grenfell tower now, this is 10am almost, the fire took hold at about 1am, nine hours this tower block is still burning. viewers might be able to see the water hoses, projected onto the lower half but you can see it still smoking, still burning higher—ups. 0n the other side, he could still see flames halfway up the tower. you

cannot see that on this side. but there are many, many questions you will want answered. definitely. a lot of questions, how could this possibly happen? given the wrong information, telling people to stay in the building, not come out of the building. the other side had a chance. why'd say that? because the fire started on the side, so they could have gotten out of the building. they werejust could have gotten out of the building. they were just told to speak to the emergency people, talk to them on the phone whether they can come out. 0k. thank you. thank you both. we are coming up to 10am, we will bring you the latest, let's talk to our reporterjean mackenzie, we could not hear her, what is going on? i have been around 200 metres

around the corner that is where people have been evacuated, when they were getting out the tower block this morning and people in the nearby homes, i have been there since 6am and it was quite quiet this morning because everybody was inside ina this morning because everybody was inside in a state of shock and it's in the last couple of hours it started get really busy because eve ryo ne started get really busy because everyone is coming to the community centre desperately hoping they can find their loved ones. people in an absolute state of drama and shock. some mums searching for daughters, 44—mac hours, trying all the different community centres and having no luck. i have seen some people arriving at being reunited with children but still people arriving and not knowing whether children are and moving onto next centre. there is such a state of trauma and shock. it's still thick with charcoal, all over the floor and when the wind blows you get it

all in the air. what i found a few minutes ago was this sheet from a children's maths book which has come from the tower block. we know there area from the tower block. we know there are a lot of children who do live in that block. we spoke to one person in the last half an hour, 14 years of age, goes to the academy right next door to grenfell tower and he said a lot of pupils from the academy live in grenfell tower and he did not know some of his friends wear. that is what i have heard as well, people saying children may now are unaccounted for and there is a list on the door of people there which is helping to speed things up, saying they are not here but here are the places you can and work. someone else volunteering to go to the local hospital to get all the names so the local hospital to get all the names so they can go and get that and bring that down, trying to help people locate people. in that centre

you have people who are really traumatised who are not on the block itself that in the neighbouring places which have been evacuated. i am sure you have been hearing this morning that they have got some of the most horrific stories because they were the ones who were awake at 2am watching it unfold, hearing the screams. 0ne gentleman said he could hear the words saved me, help me, repeated by people further and further up the building. he said to me it is those screams he think will ta ke me it is those screams he think will take a long time to be able to get out of his head. very distressing, thank you. some, very, very distressing reports here from north kensington this morning as you would expect. this is bbc news. it's10am. i'm victoria derbyshire. a until of people have died ina

derbyshire. a until of people have died in a massive fire which has torn through a tower block in west london. it is not yet known how many people have lost their lives. we do know that 50 people have been taken to hospital. it was so dark and there was so much smoke. there was people running down the stairs. some people even had some luggage. there was no alarm or bells whatsoever. g re nfell tower bells whatsoever. grenfell tower in north kensington was built in 1974 and contained 120 flats at least. residents describe the horror as they heard screaming and saw parts of the building crashing to the ground. there was smoke everywhere. literally everywhere. there was people downstairs and there was bits of the cladding falling off that was on fire and people screaming because obviously people were still sleeping

on the higher floors and they didn't have a clue halfs going on. they need to ring 999 and there is a dedicated line for this incident, 0k. 200 firefighters have been battling to bring it under control. there are unconfirmed reports that a fa u lty there are unconfirmed reports that a faulty fridge on the fourth floor could be the cause. in the past half an hour, fire chiefs confirmed the operation is still ongoing. our firefighters on scene have been working tirelessly and continue to do so to extinguish the fire and search the building for any remaining people inside. we have had at the height over 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines on scene with a range of specialist officers. hello. good morning. we're

broadcasting to you from north kensington in london this morning. about 250 meters or so away from a devastating fire that has torn through a tower block, 24 storeys store at least in grenfell tower. the police helicopter has been in the skies since the early hours of this morning. we know that the first calls were made to the fire brigade at about six minutes to one. the fire service say it took six minutes for the first fire engine to arrive on the scene, but as we've heard from residents this morning because of gates and fences and bollards and greens around the various tower blocks in this part of london it is difficult for emergency vehicles to gain access. we have spoken to

residents who describe some incredibly upsetting scenes this morning. they've described how they managed to escape from the tower block, from the fourth floor in particular, through dark smoke, down steps. they could barely see in front of them with children in their arms. their children's heads covered with wet towels to protect the children from inhaling smokement we've heard descriptions from residents of seeing people jumping from the building. of seeing people desperate people trapped in the tower block throwing their children from the building in order to try and save them. we've heard from our reporter that there are mums, there are dads, wandering around this borough, one of the richest boroughs in the country, trying to find their children. they have no idea where their children are. they are unaccounted for. they are going around the various community centres, the various churches where

peel are being looked after, desperately trying to find where their kids are. it has been confirmed that a number of people are dead. we know that up to 50 have been taken to hospital. many people who live at grenfell tower in north kensington are unaccounted for. more than 250 firefighters are on the scene. than 250 firefighters are on the scene. we know there are between 120 and 130 flats in that tower block. when i spoke to the leader of the local council this morning, he says we need to establish how many people we re we need to establish how many people were actually in the building when the fire broke out. crews were first called at 12.54am. the council also says that hundreds of people, young and old, would have been inside when the blaze started. we can bring you fobleg of the scene of the fire just before 3am this morning. so that's two hours after it began. and you can see the flames engulfing most of the building. eyewitnesses reported

people trapped in the block, desperately turning their lights on, turning the big light on and off to try and attract attention. turning the lights on their phones on and off to try to attract attention. in the last few meubs the london fire brigade has said that a structural engineer is on site and monitoring the situation and at the moment the building is still safe for crews to work in. we're expecting a news conference from the london mayor, sadiq khan at any point and he has already said this morning that the fire has been declared a major incident. i can see residents wearing masks like you see in beijing, the residents of beijing when they are trying to avoid the pollution and the smog. that's because there is a smell of smoke here. it's dissipating because there isa here. it's dissipating because there is a breeze, but you can still smell it. you can still feel it in the back of your throat and we are sur ropded by charred, remaybes that have blown from the tower block and

our reporter had a charred bit of a children's textbook, a school book, a maths book, which has been blown across 200 meters or so to where we are. i'm going to talk to richard. richard is a resident of grenfell tower. hi rich yard. hello. how are you doing? i'm all right. more to the point, how are you? i'm traumatised because i live in that block. it is a terrible time for people and i'm sending my prayers out to everyone who has been affected by the trableg de. how did you get out? i wasn't in at the time, but my mum and my sister were. they were there for five hours because the fire brigade told them to wait until it was safe. my mum was panicking and i was panicking, but then she eventually got out and she got taken to hospital shortly after, after 6am. what floor does

she live on? she lived on the 11th floor. and she got out five hours after the blaze started? yes. she was rescued by firefighters? the blaze started on the left—hand side and she lives on the right—hand side. she got out before it reached her. and your sister? my little sister. she is five years of aubleg and she was in there as well and they got taken to hospital for precautionary checks the how are they? they are fine. i haven't slept. it has been a tough time for me and my family. have you been able to speak much to your mum or not really? she was very upset and it's upsetting seeing your mum upset, that's where we live, i don't know what we will do now. we have got to wait on further news to see what will happen next. was she able to tell you any more about how she got out? she said that what happened was, she had to, she opened the door, and then there is like sta i rways

door, and then there is like stairways downstairs and she had step over a dead bodyjust to get downstairs and the firefighters took her downstairs and then straight into the ambulance and took her straight to the hot. so did someone, did a firefighter knock on her door, is that how... the firefighters, i think, they briefly knew that she was there, but someone that she knew, they rung her and then they gave the phone to the firefighter and they told her where isle can you get me and the firefighters kale up and grabbed her quick. this was after 5.30am. she got taken to hot after 5.30am. she got taken to hot after 6am. so in that time between the fire breaking out, did you know in the early hours that the fire had broken out or not? when did you first hear? i was not far away. i got a phone call saying grenfell tower was on fire. where is your mum?i tower was on fire. where is your mum? i tried to ring my mum and she said she was fine, but i could hear panic in her voice and it was a bit upsetting to be honest. i'm sure. in

the time that you were waiting for your mum to be ares cued, what was that like for you? it was awful because i'm panicking. i'm hoping my mum would get out there safe and hoping my little sister would get out safe. it was upsetting because this never happened and my mum has been here for 20 years and it never happened and it's a shame it happened and it's a shame it happened today. presumably you know other people who live there? there isa other people who live there? there is a lot of peel that live above that i know. sorry, they have suffered severe burns and stuff, but they're doing well. is your mull and your sister, are they injured at all orjust the your sister, are they injured at all or just the effects your sister, are they injured at all orjust the effects of ib healing smoke? just the effects of inhaling smoke. my mum put towels in the bath and let it overflow. that's what she did to keep safe. apparently the

cause of the fire was that a faulty refridge rater was on level four. a refrigerator blew up. a resident told us it was his next door neighbour and that's not confirmed, but have you heard that separately? my but have you heard that separately? my mother told me. they heard it was a faulty refridge rater on level four, yeah. when did she tell you that? this morning when i was in hospital. i have not long left her. 0k. it is amazing that your mull and sister are all right? is incredible. how quick it went up in flames. i thought the worst. instantly i thought the worst. instantly i thought the worst. so i'm glad she is ok now. i'm just hoping everyone else is. ok, well, thank you for talking to us. no worries. thank you. descrubing how astonishingly his mum

and younger sister managed to get ot of the building five hours after the blaze started, but that's because they were on the other side of the tower. let's talk again tojim, jim reed, jim, what tower. let's talk again tojim, jim reed,jim, whatare tower. let's talk again tojim, jim reed, jim, what are you hearing? 50 peel tan to hot, five hospitals across london accepting people who have been hurt. 120 flats in that building, over 24 have been hurt. 120 flats in that building, over24 floorsmed have been hurt. 120 flats in that building, over 24 floorsmed some reports of fatalities from the london ambulance service, but no con fir maugs of numbers at the moment. right, 0k. fir maugs of numbers at the moment. right, ok. in term of the people that we have been talking to this morning, what kind of things are you hearing? two main things coming from residents. this is coming from multiple peoplement one is the cause of the fire. a lot of people talking about a possible fridge exploding and catching fire on the fourth floor so very low down the building and presumably the fire spread and the second is the speed at which the fire spread, 20 minutes to half an

hour from the first reports of the fire to seeing the whole building ablaze. that's just fire to seeing the whole building ablaze. that'sjust extraordinary. and getting people out in that situation. this was built in 1974. this is not some tower block from the 50s or 60s, this is a modern tower block is it not? in july 2016 this whole building got refurbished, it was a £10 million refurbishment. 0ne it was a £10 million refurbishment. one of the reasons it was done was because of this academy behind us. there was some concern in the local area when it was built about disruption, so as part of the compensation they clad the outside of that building. a lot of people today talking about the speed at which the fire spread and concerns about that cladding. i should point out this is not confirmed, this is not from the authorities, butjust from people we have been speaking to, but a lot of people have been raising that as a significant concern. thanks, jimment we are

hearing that sadiq khan won't be giving a news conference imminently. i have a statement from him on twitter. this is what the mayor of london says, "i'm truly devastated to see the horrific scenes of major fire at grenfell tower in kensington. read my statement. i'm clicking on it right now. this is from the mayor of london, sadiq khan. the statement says, "more than 250 firefighters are at the scene and there have been more than 100 medics in attendance as well as 100 police officers. i want to thank our incredible firefighters and emergency services for their immense courage, dedication and professionalively. my heart goes out to everyone affected. i'm sad to could be firm that we now know there

have been fatalities and more than 50 people have been taken to hospitals including the royalfree, king's, st thomas as and chelsea and we will to be treated. the fire service is dealing with a rapidly changing situation and these numbers are likely to rise. the haler smith and city and circle underground lines are suspended between haler smith and ebleg ware road and the a40 is closed in both directions between marylebone road and the northern round about. that's a major road into the centre of london. that will cause major disruption, closed in both directions, the a40, and we are not far from that, where we are now. bus routes are also on diversion, please check the tfl

website for the latest information. we are going to talk to more eyewitnesses now. let me introduce you, sister ruth, have we met before, i feel like i you, sister ruth, have we met before, ifeel like i recognise you? i watch a programme, i am a fan. let me introduce the others, hello maria, come closer if you can. amy. so, maria, what are you doing?|j maria, come closer if you can. amy. so, maria, what are you doing? i am collecting money. everyone has been so collecting money. everyone has been so amazing, we have provisions, blankets, food, clothes, now it has come down to the fact people have woken up with nothing and its cash which is most important at the moment. i am walking around with other people, buckets outside the

christian centre if anyone wants to come down. i gather you witnessed much of what happened last night, what did you see? i was riding back about 2am, i saw one line of fire, it looked like it was contained at the time. by the time i got here it was two of those lines of flats on fire, mainly the top bit. took maybe an hour, and most of the building was on fire but i'm not going to lie, one thing i wanted to say, the thing they are saying it might have beena thing they are saying it might have been a fridge that exploded, i don't know about all that but i know the dead regeneration last year to that building, they are talking to do it all these buildings, £10 building, they are talking to do it allthese buildings, £10 million, put these shoddy plastic things on their which are set them alight because they want more reasons to knock the blocks down. they have two options, they can regenerate them or

not them down, i am not sure that was totally our accident, i am not going to lie, the whole situation in this area, they don't want us here... they have put those rich man's blocks over their... is outrageous, i cannot lie, the way they treat us around here it's terrible. i cannot even take the belief out of my mind that that wasn'tjust an belief out of my mind that that wasn't just an accident the you know what i'm saying? i'm not to lie. we don't know. it's so early. we don't know, regeneration happened last year to apparently make these blocks better and these fires have never happened, i have lived here my entire life, my mum has lived here a very long time and these things have never ever very long time and these things have never ever happened in this area. i don't know what they spent £10 million on but the lifts in this block and all the blocks around cost 60 grand to fix and they have never

replaced them to the time i have lived here sold 10 million for that? no. i lived here sold 10 million for that? no. lam lived here sold 10 million for that? no. i am not... i lived here sold 10 million for that? no. iam not... i have lived here sold 10 million for that? no. i am not... i have to apologise for your language, i'm going to apologise with the language. i do apologise. but i also want to say thatis apologise. but i also want to say that is symptomatic of some of the anger in this community, justified, tell me why? i have worked in 269 countries with all faiths, now i'll lived opposite the building and i heard the ambulances and fire brigades so i woke up early and put on the tv and to my shock when i looked out my window i could see the whole thing is in flames. i came straight to the christian church to help people and pray with sobbing women, mostly muslim and, they were sobbing, they had lost their daughters and relatives. it was heartbreaking. a woman ran up to me

with out great big piece from the fire and she said there was form in it, that should not be on the walls. so the landlords have a lot to explain. i asked so the landlords have a lot to explain. iasked people so the landlords have a lot to explain. i asked people of all faiths, i ask them all to pray for the people in the building who might be burnt to death now and their relatives and friends and thank god i believe they will go to heaven. we pray for all the injured, all emergency services, the response from all over london outstanding. god bless london. amy? i have come to urge the community, i am from we st to urge the community, i am from west london, i have lived in this area for 60 years and i have come to urge the community get—together, food, drinks, i havejust come urge the community get—together, food, drinks, i have just come to offer my house, places to stay, i

could take 6—8 people in for as long as they need. just letting the community now to get together, to urge them to come and put their names down for who can help and whatever they can offer. that is amazing. 0thers whatever they can offer. that is amazing. others i imagine doing what you are, opening their homes to those who will not be able to go back to the tower. i have my children and grandchildren in the community centre trying to do what i can to do, i cannot reach the injured, we are urging people, there are lots of other ways we can help, are lots of other ways we can help, a pound or two, are lots of other ways we can help, a pound ortwo, a are lots of other ways we can help, a pound or two, a room or two, are lots of other ways we can help, a pound ortwo, a room ortwo, a bed for the night. food, whatever it is from the community, west london is a strong community and we come together at a time like this. why are you wearing this? because of the

pollution, and i am asthmatic. 0k, in terms of your collection, wandering around with this pocket? yes, no is not in anybody's vocabulary, they are digging deep and emptying their pockets and it is heart—warming. but i want to echo that everyone has been amazing and we that everyone has been amazing and we need to continue. do not forget about this, this is today but this is going to echo for quite some time. if anyone is going to echo for quite some time. ifanyone has is going to echo for quite some time. if anyone has rooms please come down to the christian centre, put your names down. i have got a list, people have lists. a lot of nationalities from all over the world, this is a multicultural society and all faiths are all coming together in the local

churches, we are all pulling together as a close—knit multicultural team which is an example for the world, thank god. multicultural team which is an example for the world, thank godm a very compact area there are so many churches around here. we need them, especially now. fair enough. god bless you. thank you. jim reed, our reporter, back with us to bring people who are just tuning in up—to—date with what we know so far. something i wanted to bring up, we talked about the speed in which the fire spread, we have been directed a local residents association to the warning signs which were put up, this comes from a blog post. these we re this comes from a blog post. these were put up in march after pressure.

they say there is a stated policy u nless they say there is a stated policy unless they fire directly affects your flat. if you find a fire in your flat. if you find a fire in your flat. if you find a fire in your flat then we've at once but if your flat then we've at once but if you see the fire is just in the block you are safe to stay keeping doors and windows closed. the residents association now are very concerned and worried about this. people were being told if there is a fire that does not directly affect you stay in, and the speed in which this was spreading there are real questions about whether that was the right advice to give up. anything else? just reiterating what we said about the cladding on the side of the building and also worries about how quickly the fire spread, was a result of the cladding or not, that is what people are looking into. you spoke the individual from the g re nfell spoke the individual from the grenfell action group who wrote that post in november 2016 which warned

about a catastrophe unfolding if concerns were not taken seriously, tell us what the gentleman said. he was concerned by access to emergency vehicles to block like that and that has come out and some of the interviews you have done. very strong in some of the words he used, felt the people in the block are being treated like vermin, not being taken seriously by authorities. warning again and again about the fire risk but as he put it those warnings fell on deaf ears. there is real anger about why this happened. we do not know the facts at the moment but if you speak to people out there real concern about why we are looking at what we are looking at. thank you for now. good morning, this is bbc news, we have been reporting this morning from north kensington, we have got a resident here who has a trolley full of cold drinks, water, fizzy drinks, orange

juice and so on, asking a police officer if she can go through... she has handed over the trolley to a police officer who is taking those to emergency services personnel iversen but also anybody around the area but most people have been evacuated. we have had some very upsetting, some very upsetting experiences this morning from people who escaped grenfell tower as the fire took hold. for people who were not in the tower but witnessed the speed with which the flames... i am pausing because i can hear shouting, the speed with which the flames took hold and despite the shock they have been able to describe so much, to put together a picture, very early stages, we have no idea how the fire started and how it spread so rapidly

but clearly something went badly wrong, that should not happen in a modern british tower block in 2017. earlier i spoke to a residence mahad who was one of the first to leave the building with his fire and two children, his neighbour had sitting in the fire started when the fridge exploded. there was a sudden bang at the doorjust exploded. there was a sudden bang at the door just before 1am exploded. there was a sudden bang at the doorjust before 1am and when i to investigate i was greeted by smoke, dark cloud. the bang at the door was someone smoke, dark cloud. the bang at the door was someone knocking on the door? to alert us, when i opened the door? to alert us, when i opened the door there was so much smoke, i shut the door right back, there was nobody standing there because the person tried to knock on more doors. i got the door shut, got more towels, wet them, alert my wife, screaming fire, fire, get out, we

went into the kids room, wrapped in towels over their heads and proceeded to just except the premises. it was so dark, so much smoke, people running down the stairs. some people had luggage, so much confusion. there was no sound of alarm or bells whatsoever. is there a fire alarm in grenfell tower? generally there would be a fire alarm that would go off in such incidents but there was none. we only heard the alarm after 1:30am. it was a sale in terms of safety measures which should have been in place to alert the residents. no fire alarm but somebody banging on your door, you get your wife and two children... i knocked on my neighbours, kicking the door, kept running because at this point i did

not want the kids to be inhaling more smoke. we had to make sure... you were trying to run down the stairs, how far ahead of you could you see, how dark was it? it was too dark. arm's—length. the whole fire started off on the fourth floor, i live on the fourth floor. how do you know that? because once we were going down the stairs and exit the premises i was confronted by neighbours who lives at number 16 and he said look, are you 0k? he was checking on me and the kids, i was checking on me and the kids, i was checking on me and the kids, i was checking on me and the kids and asked about his wife, i should concern, asking where his wife was, he said it is just concern, asking where his wife was, he said it isjust me, it was my house, my fridge exploded. the guy who lived next door to you on the fourth floor said the fridge exploded? yeah, at which point the

fire brigade were aware of it, seniorfire brigade were fire brigade were aware of it, senior fire brigade were also there, they took some statement or some sort of understanding from him about what was going on. sorry to interrupt, what time was it when you got out at the bottom of your block of flats ? got out at the bottom of your block of flats? this is no later than ten past one. at that point there was smoke on the fourth player, down the stairwell, in your next—door neighbour ‘s flat? stairwell, in your next—door neighbour 's flat? it was going up to the fifth floor through the stairs, doors were open because people are constantly going in and out. that was mahad. this is from one eyewitness, a baby was apparently caught by a member of the public after being dropped from grenfell tower as it was engulfed with flails. this is according to an eyewitness. she said she saw a woman

try to save a baby by dropping it from a window on the ninth or tenth floor to waiting members of the public below. she told the press association people were starting to appear at the windows frantically banging and screaming. the windows we re banging and screaming. the windows were slightly ajar. a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby. somebody did. a gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby. this eyewitness continued, "i could see people from all angles banging and screaming for help. us members of the public were reassuring telling them we have done what we can, we've dialled 999, but the look on their face was death." that is according to an eyewitness who say she saw a woman trying to save a baby by dropping it from a window on the ninth or tenth floor. so throwing a baby from a window on the ninth or tenth floor to waiting members of the public below and a man caught that baby which is just

incredible. that is according to one eyewitness. i'm going to introduce you to michael and hannah and six—year—old thea. you to michael and hannah and six-year-old thea. five five. i'm so sorry. well, you got out of there? yes, we got out of there. how did you do it? well, i woke you to the smell of plastic at about 1am, 1.30am. she was asleep and so was thea. i thought it was one of the kindle or ipads and that one of them was heating up. everything was fine. i could smell burning plastic. i went into the kitchen to have a cigarette and i could hear screaming saying, "it's getting bigger. it's getting bigger." i opened the door and there was neighbours and they we re and there was neighbours and they were shouting scwsmt get out of the

house. it's alight." i'm in my boxers. i grabbed thea and got hannah and got past the fourth where the fire was alight. there was pure, thick plaque smoke... i'm going to pause because sadiq khan, the mayor of london is giving a news conference right now. i will come right back to you. reasonable questions that demand answers and in due course, i will be making sure we get those answers. what kind of work is council going to do to reassure residents over the safety of the flats they live in? there are a number of tower blocks in london and across the country. the responsibility lies with the local authority, the borough or private management companies and they need it make sure that of course, that tower blocks are safe. i will be asking questions raised by the fire last night. the sort of questions that your viewers are asking, the sort of questions that not

unreasonably residents are asking that demand answersment our focus has to be on search and rescue. during the early course of the night our fire service received the first 12 blocks, it's a 24 storey tower blockment some progress has been made to go higher up the building. the structural experts who are there are saying the building is still currently safe, but our focus now is search and rescue, but it will move to recovery and of course, we have got to make sure we provide shelter to those who have had to flee their holes, but also the neighbouring properties affected because of fear of the building collapsing, but of course, there are reasonable questions that residents across the country have who live in tower blocks and we need to make sure they're answered. you said we have they're answered. you said we have the best fire service in the country. if the water cannons can only reach up to the 12th floor, is there something to be said for not building tower blocks higher than 12 floors? one of the things about the response last night, the first fire

ebb inwas there in less than six meubs. —— minutes. 0bviously, ebb inwas there in less than six meubs. —— minutes. obviously, there are issues about the water from the tower block not being available. that can happen with a tower block, afire, that can happen with a tower block, a fire, but one of the reasons i say why we have got the best fire service in the world, i have seen the practise, the planning and the preparation they do including for fairs in tower blocks and we can see how bad this horrific fire is. at the moment ourfocus has how bad this horrific fire is. at the moment our focus has to how bad this horrific fire is. at the moment ourfocus has to be on the moment ourfocus has to be on the search and rescue and move on to the search and rescue and move on to the recovery, but of course, man, many people have legitimate questions that will demand answers. finally, inaudible there are mixed feelings today, of course, we're still remembering those affected by the horrific terror attack ten days ago, but this market has been closed most of it for continue days now. the independent traders have lost

business. they have lost trade. they have lost the produce that rotted and went off ten days ago. they're fully reopened today. it is a source of pride to me that borough market, the oldest market in the country has reopened. my message to your viewers is come and shop at the borough market, you will leave with great produce. what better way to show our resilience and show the world that we're not going to be cowed by terrorists. sadiq khan the mayor of london at the reopening of borough market on the other side of london suggesting that the focus here in west london needs to be on search and rescue. we're showing you footage now, these are current pictures now of grenfell tower, live pictures, which is showing that the building is still alight. as sadiq

khan was saying he declared a major incident very quickly. he said we have the best fire service in the world. a lot of people are still unaccounted for. his words, a lot of people, some of them could have been found safe, some of them could have been found safe refuge int found safe, some of them could have been found safe refuge in t holes of their neighbours or friends. the pictures we're showing you now show that parts of the building are still alight. that's nine—and—a—half hours after the fire broke out. let's continue talking mike ale and his girlfriend, hannah and five—year—old thea who escaped from the seventh floor of grenfell tower. when i saw you first thing this morning you we re you first thing this morning you were in your boxers and dressing gown, you have managed to have a shower. we have had donations from other people. the community has been incredible. 0verwhelming. i can't believe what happened and the people in charge of the safety and the fire regulations of this place should be

hung. there should be an inquiriment only one fire escape and apparently that caught on fire and the fire alarm that was going on, it would have woke no one up. i should have been dead if i weren't awake. five more minutes and that was us of the that's how close it was. someone has got to be held responsible for this. it is ridiculous. there should be proper health and safety regulations in order, you know. if we look, steve, i don't know if you can see now, the smoke has turned black. i am nota now, the smoke has turned black. i am not a fire safety expert clearly, but it looks as though something has reignited or it has found new parts of the tower to burn, but the smoke has turned from grey to black. it is still... the tower is still on fire. there is plastic cladding. they made the school out of it, so it matched in with the school, they did it to

the flats. it has gone up like a christmas tree and the amount of firefighters, it was spreading out. spreading. it was out of control. it was all down the road. how maeb people have lost their lives. someone has got to be held responsible for this. there was no way out for those people who were stuck up there. you say there was one fire escape. there is one set of stairs. from from top to bottom. from top to bold. . stairs. from from top to bottom. from top to bold! it was only because i was slipping in and out of consciousness that i smelt the plastic. wyre davies is closer to where it looks as though the tower is still burning. wyre. the fire has taken hold again with a vengeance right in the middle of the tower block. it appears to be in an area where the fire engines can't focus their fire hoses and where the fire engines can't focus theirfire hoses and it's where the fire engines can't focus their fire hoses and it's about eight or nine floors down from the top of the building and a big fire

has taken hold again the there are big pieces of perhaps just cladding, but there are certainly big pieces falling off the building. the cordon is very big, spread outside around the building because the police, of course, and fire service and ambulance are concerned about the integrity of the building. when i spoke to the fire commissioner about half an hour ago she made it clear at that point they weren't worried that the building was going to fall down, but the fire again has taken hold and of course, there must be now concerns about the integrity of the building itself. you can probably see from television pictures from the aerial pictures, there is more smoke billowing out of there is more smoke billowing out of the building and it's from that central part of the tower block right in the middle where the fire has taken hold yet again. wyre, thank you. so the fire is taking hold according it our correspondent in the centre of the building now. how did the fire spread this easily? this is the big

question from the fourth floor from an electrical fault in a fridge? we think. that's not confirmed.” an electrical fault in a fridge? we think. that's not confirmed. i know it's not confirmed, but even so, only six months ago, there was a tower over there, there was a fire on the 23rd floor and it was contained to one flat and they controlled it. there was no mabelingor casualties. how come the fire spread through the building. this is kensington borough council. they have caused a disaster. it is like waking up in a horrorfilm. they have caused a disaster. it is like waking up in a horror film. how did you get out? just my wits. i love them. i wasn't going to run on my own. i made sure she was all right with her breathing. we got out and looked up and it was engulfed. if we were in there for another five minutes we wouldn't have got out with the thickness of the smoke that was coming up. and your thoughts are with those who have lost their lives? my heart goes out to everybody. the ones that have passed

and the ones that are still here. that is traumatic. this isn't something you're going to get over tomorrow and go and have a couple of pints and laugh about it. i'm gutted about it. my life has turned up side down. we've lost everything. just started afresh and doing the house up, jewellery, mub, passports, clothes, people had to give me clothes, people had to give me clothes today. thank god for people's generosity and kindness. 0r else i would be walking around in those smelly boxer shorts. where are you going to sleep tonight. do you have any idea? up that tree. it is desperate. i have spoken to peoplement they're opening their homes. people have offered us houses, but we don't want to go without and the next thing we lose out on our accommodation. if they think we have got somewhere something, you get pushed to one

side and you're left without a paddle. thank you very much. we're going to talk now, i think, to jane dreaper who is our correspondent at st mary's hospital in paddington. we're going to talk to jane in a moment. first, we're going to talk to maria. and natalie. come in. hi. this is my daughter stephanie. don't be shy, please. thank you very much for talking to us. tell us where you live. tell us how you are feeling? we live at whiches stable house, the block opposite. we have been watching it since 1am just spreading across the whole building. what about you natalie? the 13th floor. i can right into it. so what time were you awoken? my daughter woke me up at1.30am ina you awoken? my daughter woke me up at 1.30am in a panic. i saw the fire andl at 1.30am in a panic. i saw the fire and i have been awake ever since.

i'm guessing you saw the fire take hold and move up... it was little and then it grew. from about the third orfourth and then it grew. from about the third or fourth and and then it grew. from about the third orfourth and on one side and then it grew. from about the third or fourth and on one side and thenit third or fourth and on one side and then it has blown diagonally across then it has blown diagonally across the building. taken the top floors first, i think. how the building. taken the top floors first, ithink. how do the building. taken the top floors first, i think. how do you react? it was scary. first, i think. how do you react? it was scary. we could hear people shouting and screaming for help, but you just feel helpless, you know. it's scary. especially because it's so it's scary. especially because it's so close to home and to hear the people screaming, knowing that we couldn't help or anything. it was terrible. and living in a tower block as well is terrifying for us because we live a tower block across. you think when is it going to be us? did you think that before the early hours of this morning? do you have that concern living in a tower block anyway or not really?” didn't really before, but seeing as it has been so close to home you sort of think if it happens in our

block, how would we get out? in our block, how would we get out? in our block there is lots of people with families. we know of two people that have got wheelchairs in there and i know someone definitely, the lifts weren't working and they couldn't get their son out to school who is ina get their son out to school who is in a wheelchair. the lifts weren't working over the weekend. you have got a flight of stairs? yes. one flight. got a flight of stairs? yes. one flight. two lifts. one goes to odd numbers and the other one goes to even numbers. the stairs are the fire escape? yes. there is a stairwell here. it is 1's turkeys for the whole block. these are council owned. some of them, some are by a tenancy organisation. is at the same

organisation. is at the same organisation which ran grenfell i think so. so they run years but potentially the council on it? you will have many questions no doubt? hopefully they do not clad are building at all because from what we we re building at all because from what we were looking at, the cladding has been the main cause, that is what made it spread so fast. that is what so made it spread so fast. that is what so many residents are saying, we do not know that yet, it's going to ta ke not know that yet, it's going to take time. that is what was flying off the building, just the cladding. very frightening, being so close. thank you so much, thank you for talking to us. we are going to show you some footage now of parts of g re nfell tower you some footage now of parts of grenfell tower effectively collapsing. you can see a balcony

collapsing. you can see a balcony collapsing. perhaps not surprising because of the ferocity of the fire and the speed with which it took hold and spread. we were hearing from our correspondent on lancaster road not too far from here that parts of the building were still alight particularly in the centre of the building. i can see flames from where i am standing, i can see fla mes where i am standing, i can see flames on the right—hand side as i look at this tower, flames on the right—hand side lacking the outside of the building. shooting upwards. you can see the dark smoke around, thatis you can see the dark smoke around, that is the smell with which eve ryo ne that is the smell with which everyone is faced here this morning. the smell of burning, a modern tower block on fire. david collins is the former chair of the residents

association per grenfell tower, he lived there for two and a half years and told the bbc the council has been refusing to investigate residents safety concerns. we repeatedly reported concerns to the te na nt repeatedly reported concerns to the tenant management organisation of the royal borough of kensington and chelsea including fire safety concerns which were not investigated during the regeneration works. what we re during the regeneration works. what were those concerns? concerns over the location of boilers, concerns about escape. concerns about five escape lighting. the list goes on, lots, we spoke, i spoke to the councillors and they refuse to investigate, they would not believe the residents concerns. 90% of residents signed an independent petition asking for an investigation into the organisation that runs this building because they were so

incompetent and the council turned down. 60% of residents felt they had been threatened, harassed, pressured or bullied by the same organisation lead contractors doing the work. i had the manager of the contract are doing the work and threaten me on my own door, that is the conditions we we re own door, that is the conditions we were dealing with. david collins. you can see now, on top of a trolley with various positions belonging to justin and paul. you do not live in g re nfell tower, justin and paul. you do not live in grenfell tower, you live locally in another block of flats but not... eight lower height. why do you have your possessions in this trolley? we we re your possessions in this trolley? we were evacuated at about 2am, i don't have insurance so i took a few things i did not want to lose, some close on things. it's looking quite

bad. the fire, when i found out it was on both sides of the building, it was getting worse and worse. i walk my friend up about 130, she's a bit older than me straightaway she said it was really say yes, she knew how serious it was. we've never seen anything like it, sheets out the window, windows being blown out by the backdraught is. unbelievable. my heart goes out to those who have died orare heart goes out to those who have died or are seriously injured or have lost everything. it's absolutely devastating. i cannot really hear you with that on but i do not blame you for wearing it, tell me how you are doing?” do not blame you for wearing it, tell me how you are doing? i am ok. i got tell me how you are doing? i am ok. igota tell me how you are doing? i am ok. i got a phone call at around 2am from my grandma who lives opposite

saying there is a fire and she did not know if she would be evacuated and for us to make sure if we are at home, for her to come. i came outside because i did not believe herandl outside because i did not believe herand i saw outside because i did not believe her and i saw the smoke and put on my clothes so i have been out here since 3am. giving people blankets and water, i have been to every community centre where the people from the tower block have gone. now we from the tower block have gone. now we have masks, they got deleted by new lines, they donated us the mass taxed to protect us from the asbestos and things in the building. there is a nice sense of community spirit, everyone is running around deleting things. this is how we are, anything the community comes together, for anything. we don't have much but we have each other. there are people who have lost everything, i don't have a lot but i

came out with anything i had because i know there are people who have less than me now. can you believe what has happened? it is crazy, even now looking at it, it is still not real. you just cannot, you see all the debris, the charcoal, it's everywhere, between the car is, you just would not think that that could happen. it's hard to take in, mentally. can ijust pause you for one moment, if you could stay for a few moments, because i am going to talk to the government's former fine minister and a former firefighter himself, conservative mp michael penning, good morning, i hope you can hear me. yes, thank you. first of all your response? it is frightening and i would listen to the residents, the firefighter is, even though they are trained for the sort of fire would never have dreamt

of experiencing it. we have never had a fire like this in the uk. plenty of fires in flats and tower blocks but not one which has spread so blocks but not one which has spread so fast and as badly as this and taken so many so fast and as badly as this and ta ken so many lives. so fast and as badly as this and taken so many lives. we don't know why the fire started. we have heard what residents have told us. we don't know why it spread so rapidly, again we know what residents have told us,... inaudible i have never seen something spread, i would always expect, especially the cladding which i can see burning quite clearly on the tv, that that would have been a product which could not have spread the fire and clearly it wars. this will inevitably lead to, hopefully, all

the tower blocks in london being checked when it comes to fire safety regulations? it certainly will for the whole country, the whole reason we have fire regulations is because we have fire regulations is because we need protection for the public. they report their concerns, that those concerns are checked out fully. there is no point having more enhanced precautions if they are not being adhered to. for instance i cannot believe what i have been hearing this morning that fire alarms did not go off, or the exit came down into an area which was combustible. that's the sort of thing, normally steer wells are safety zones. normally you advise people to stay within the flat because you have fire doors. in this case that's clearly not worked so we need to find out what went on, especially during the recent inspection. residents had been concerned, that's been reported. inspection. residents had been concerned, that's been reportedm

november last year there were suggestions something catastrophic would have to happen in orderfor the management organisation which ru ns the management organisation which runs the building on behalf of the local council to take their concerns seriously. they have a responsibility, and moral responsibility, and moral responsibility as well as a legal responsibility as well as a legal responsibility but the local and poverty and apply them, these are their tenants, the council have a responsibility. we must notjump to too many conclusions yet but it is already quite a concern that people have reported things and been ignored as i heard on the radio this morning. a lot of this is anecdotal but there will be a proper enquiry as to what the source was, how did this fire start, was it an electrical fault? was it this fire start, was it an electricalfault? was it set this fire start, was it an electrical fault? was it set by somebody? it's quite unusual for this sort of fire to move in a sort of way. we have never seen this so there will be a lot of work which needs to go into finding out why and making sure it does not happen again and make the residents not only of

london but the rest of the country who live in tower blocks have confidence when they go to sleep tonight. thanks very much, michael penning, conservative mp. let me bring you this news from a counsellor called judith blake and, not india ward councillor, she lives across the road and says between 400 and 600 people live in the building. 400 and 600 people live in the building. according to a counsellor who lives across the road from g re nfell tower. who lives across the road from grenfell tower. we know that 50 people are being treated at hospitals across london which would suggest there are many people yet to be accounted for. which is absolutely devastating.” be accounted for. which is absolutely devastating. i agree. be accounted for. which is absolutely devastating. iagree. i think it's totally unexpected and it feels like evil, and not a nice thing. i keep getting emotional and upset about it because i lost my

brother when i was 16 and so i know how it feels to lose a loved one. i am lucky that i've never really been in such an event like that but that's the closest i've ever been to something so serious and so major. it isa something so serious and so major. it is a major event. they have class it as that, they have classed it as a major... a major incident, according to sadiq khan. i am just hearing, i will pass it onto you, the london fire brigade says there structural engineer has checked out g re nfell tower structural engineer has checked out grenfell tower and it is not in danger of collapsing. that is relief so we can go danger of collapsing. that is relief so we can go back home when it has the all clear. because you live not far? i agree that is good news. add in 3m, nobody was directing us where to go, what to do, it was alljust taped off. where do i go and what do

ido? taped off. where do i go and what do i do? nobody is centres are opening up, people are being very kind and helping people at at that time in the morning nothing was happening and then there was a massive rumour and then there was a massive rumour and all the police and fire brigade are walking around and running down the streets and knocking on more doors. i think they got a feeling that it might collapse. we are now hearing that will not happen. for people watching around the country right now, tell our audience a little bit about this area, plenty of people will know north kensington, we are between two tube stations, tell us about the area. kensington, we are between two tube stations, tell us about the aream is, we have a community, everyone around here knows each other. if they don't they get to know each other. neighbours are like good morning, it's really community— based. yeah. morning, it's really

community-based. yeah. how long are you going to wear that, i can suddenly feel the smoke.” you going to wear that, i can suddenly feel the smoke. i have asthma as well so i have to be careful with my lungs. asthma as well so i have to be carefulwith my lungs. ok. right. so are you just going to, you are waiting for news to get back to your own place? it is 11am, we got out at 2am, we have not had a wink of sleep, we are shattered and exhausted, i will not going to work today. we had a bit shattered. and you have your prized possessions. and my best pal. we were hoping to get back inside maxon and sit down and relax and pray to god that we we re and relax and pray to god that we were not hit by debris are involved. i still don't know, my flat is right at the side of it, debris could have hit my flat and i could not have a home. i still don't know. they will

not let me near it. so i am hoping, touch wood that it's ok. my thoughts are with people who are unaccounted for, i wasjust in the corner shop buying a drink and this woman said her father, she has still not heard any news, she is calling around the hospitals and he has not been accounted for. to think we have been so accounted for. to think we have been so fortunate. ok, thank you all of you, thank you. thank you all very much. good morning. it's11o'clock, this is bbc news, i'm victoria derbyshire, we are broadcasting from north kensington in london, about 250 metres away from glenfield —— g re nfell tower. 250 metres away from glenfield —— grenfell tower. a fire started at about 1am, and according to what residences have been telling me it too cold and spread rapidly. within

half an hour, 45 minutes, too cold and spread rapidly. within halfan hour, 45 minutes, an too cold and spread rapidly. within half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour, from the fourth floor one resident told me, the flames were shooting upwards and had taken control of most of the height of the building and then it rapidly spread from one side of the tower to the other. the not the major arterial roads into the capital there are people going to churches and community centres a re going to churches and community centres are trying to find and loved ones who are unaccounted for. there are patents and mums and dads trying to find their children and other relatives. people are putting less on the front of church doors and community centre doors of who is inside so if your relative is not a list you will move onto the next community centre and to the next church. it is a desperate business. it is catastrophic what has happened. it is almost unbelievable.

we know that a number of people have been killed. the fire service also say many residents have been rescued. it is not known exactly how many people have died. people have described neighbours shouting for help and jumping from windows. at least 50 people have been taken to hospital. fire crews were cold at one o'clock this morning and the fire spread to the top of the 24 story building. the fire service say the situation is dynamic and they are still trying to rescue people inside. elia the london fire commissioner told press building that they were monitoring the stability of the building. the first crews were on scene and

under six minutes and find a rapidly developing fire. as you can appreciate from looking at the building this has been a very serious and complex fire. 0ur firefighters on scene had been working tirelessly and continue to do so to extinguish the fire and search the building for any remaining people inside. we have had at the height over 200 firefighters and 45 engines on scene with a range of specialist officers. we have been working closely with all of our partners to find what is happening here. we will continue in the hours and days to come to look at the cause of this fire and find

out what has happened. we have a structural engineer who is monitoring the stability of the building. at the moment the building continues to be saved for crews to go and work in. i must say i want to thank everybody who has been involved in this incident so far in what has been a very difficult time and send our sincere condolences to eve ryo ne and send our sincere condolences to everyone involved in this really terrible incident. as you can appreciate this is a very difficult time and is still in a dynamic stage of this incident and it would be wrong to speculate around because the fire are anything further at this moment. that is the london fire commissioner. here are some live pictures. i am told that these sure the fire hoses of emergency services extinguishing the flames that have been burning for ten hours at g re nfell tower,

been burning for ten hours at grenfell tower, this tower block in north london. we're going to bring you the latest. he was richard lister. the fire raged through the night. this 27 storey block, home to hundreds of people, was engulfed in flame. in the chaos, it was unclear how many were able to get out. some were trapped inside for sometime at least, standing at windows in the desperate hope of rescue. those trapped in the lower floors could see fire crews trying to get to them but higher up the infernal was too intense. people living nearby alerted by the smell of smoke came to the site and found what they saw. many had come to see if they

could help but with flaming debris falling from the tower block their lives were also at risk. they need to ring 999 and there is a dedicated line for this incident, 0k? 0n the ground, police cleared a wide cordon and closed the nearby a40 in and out of london. some 200 fire engines were brought in to tackle the blaze. as it became more intense there was concern the building might collapse with people still trapped inside. many people were led to safety, but some 30 were taken to hospital. others were counting their blessings. david benjamin was in the block when the fire began. there was smoke everywhere. literally everywhere. there was people downstairs. there was bits of cladding falling off the block. people screaming. after a couple of minutes, because people were still sleeping on the higher floors so they didn't have a clue what was going on. i'm not even sure if half of them got out. me and my brother and some

other people in the area ran over. there were people there and the kids out saying save my children. the fire brigade and the ambersons police could not do anything and could not get in. little people to stay there where they are we will come and get you. but things quickly escalated. everyone is in shock. apparently there are a lot of kids are missing because there was a lot of young people living on the block. it went right up. daylight revealed that the fire still alight. fire crews with breathing apparatus were still battling to rescue as many as they could. i am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities. i cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building and it will clearly be wrong for me to

speculate further. equally the cause of this fire is not known at this stage. the block is no smoking ruin. it should've been one the safest in the borough with a multi—million pound refurbishment completed only last year. residents are now wondering whether willow. we have 125 homeless families which has to be one of the priorities of the council today. winner to house those people. there are 500 people they are milling around not knowing whether loved ones are and where they can sleep tonight. this is a community in shock. the immediate aftermath is horrific enough but there will be a long—term impact as well. this nurse help survivors overnight. i have seen some things but today i can't even describe it. there are mothers who have come out and lost the children. there are firefighters who have come out injured and people have lost their homes and children of seeing things

and people were jumping homes and children of seeing things and people werejumping out homes and children of seeing things and people were jumping out the window. we just need to rebuild as a community now. firefighters are still trying to reach the upper floors to carry out a complete search. the full extent of the casualties is still not completely clear and that is an urgent search for answers. how did the fire started on how could it spread so quickly? if you are just if you arejustjoining us if you are justjoining us you're watching bbc news. we are alive in west london this morning at the scene west london this morning at the scene at something that is truly horrific. —— live. the fire took hold here at five to one this

morning. it isjust a blackened charred wreck. smoke that you can smell and feel in the back of your throat for really quite some distance away. we're standing as close as the police garden will allow anybody to get, residents of anyone at all. we are periodically hepworth bursts and showers of ash that come down and scattering all on the ground here. the smell depending on which way the wind is blowing is very strong indeed. the london mayor siddique khan has been speaking in the last 20 minutes or so.

i have been in close contact with the fire commissioner who has never seen the fire commissioner who has never seen such a fire she saw last night. i focus has to seen such a fire she saw last night. ifocus has to be seen such a fire she saw last night. i focus has to be on search and rescue. very la would declare this isa rescue. very la would declare this is a major incident which means the fire services helped by the ambulance service and the police. the bad news is there are going to be fatalities. we can confirm that. more than 50 people taken to five hospitals across london and i am afraid that will get worse. at this stage there are many questions people have, legitimate and reasonable questions that demand a nswe rs reasonable questions that demand answers and in due course and will be making sure we get those answers. what kind of work is london council going to do to reassure residents? there are a number of tower blocks across london and other major cities

across london and other major cities across the country. the responsibility lies with the local authority, the burgh or private management companies and the need to make sure of course that tower blocks are safe. i'll be asking questions raised by the fire last night. the sort of questions that you have your viewers are asking. the sort of questions that not unreasonably resident asking that demand answers. 0urfocus now has to be, though, on search and rescue. during the early course of the night of fire service could only reach the first 12 blocks. it's a 24 story tower block. the good news is some progress has been made to get higher up the building. the structural experts who are there say the building is still currently safe. our focus now is search and rescue although it will move to, i afraid, recovery. and of course we have to make sure the meantime we provide shelter to those who have had to flee their homes. but also the neighbouring properties affected because of fear of the building collapsing. but of course there are genuine questions,

reasonable questions, that residents across the country have who live in tower blocks and we needed to make sure they're answered. but of course there are genuine questions, reasonable questions, that residents across the country if the water cannons could only reach up to the trial there. —— reach up to the trial there. —— reach up to the trial there. —— reach up to the 12 there should tower blocks not be built i? one of the great things about the response last night was that the first fire engine was there in less than six minutes. we declared a major incident very early which meant not only weather additional fire engines, and specialist equipment, but also the ambulance service and the police there as well. i have seen the practice in preparation to do the fires and tower blocks and the focus has to be on the search and rescue and then move on to the recovery but of course many people will have legitimate questions and demand a nswe rs. legitimate questions and demand

answers. that was sadiq khan speaking last 20 minutes. piers has lived here for more than a decade. i am picking up her incredibly difficult it is for everybody here this morning. today people a sense. you live in a low—rise block of flats at the foot of the stove.” live in one of the houses binders here and i was woken up at quarter past one by one of the noises in the garden and i thought of someone breaking in next door. looked at the and saw the fire which at that point was just really in the corner there. just at the bottom left. you can see past the school. in the next 1520 minutes it shot up that left—hand side and it went up like a bonfire

that was being let on guy fawkes night. that has recently been re—clad and it used to be concrete moulded fluting and so there is a gap on each corner between the right angle cladding and the indented fluting so i think that acted as a chimney because that fire went up weight quicker than it should do. and could see people flashing their torches, flashing their phones. people were wearing blankets out of the window. people were shouting. people were wearing blankets out of the window. people were shoutingm was totally disturbing. it is hugely distressing even to hear that account and it is very hard for any of ours to stand here today and look

at that building because we know that people lost their life in that building and we have to remember that and we have heard that metropolitan police have confirmed that six people have died. that is the latest that london police are telling us. it is difficult to look at that because we know, and as someone at that because we know, and as someone who has lived here for more than a decade, is everybody that you know safe much yes, there is somebody that i work with very closely, he actually wrote the log about the fire safety, and the first thing i did was call home, and he got out by the skin of his teeth. but he is still an absolute shock. i believe that a lot of kids who go to that school, the green building that you see over there, a lot of kids live in that tower block, and i am worried that my daughter has lost a friend in there that remains unaccounted for. a couple of kids

that we thought might have perished have turned up, so there is hope. that we thought might have perished have turned up, so there is hopem is hard to find positives at such a desperate time that i have been so struck already by the huge number of people i have seen in all the different streets around here helping out. there are people walking around, giving out what, giving away food. we will be talking to someone later who says they have opened up the local sports centre for people to go in to get refreshments, to have a shower. you canjust refreshments, to have a shower. you can just sense that people are chatting to each other all the time and making lists and finding out who needs help. give us your assessment, describe what sort of community editors. but as a tight-knit community and ever since the local council published plans to regenerate this area the community has gathered even closer together because we have been having huge

meetings to state our case and to work out how to protest about their plans to demolish the entire area. what was already a close—knit community has been brought together even closer. there was also euphoria around here at the election of the labourmp around here at the election of the labour mp richard kensington on friday. there was a fantastic feeling on the streets on thursday, because we felt that we were having our voice heard at last. 0ne because we felt that we were having our voice heard at last. one of the things that we have to complain about the council as we believe the council and the tmo have been managing a decline in the social housing here, too asjustification to their plans to regenerate, which is another word for demolish, the entire area. there are people who have been prophesying some

catastrophe like this for some time. what we have two stress is that we simply do not know, nobody knows, the fire brigade does not know what happened here. you see that their fire took hold very quickly, you saw it. countless witnesses have reported that. the entire thing went up reported that. the entire thing went up way too quickly for a block that has 500 people in it. 500 people, as you say. thank you. we hope that everybody you know businesses &. there is a just giving website, look for grenfell tower, they are looking to raise £500,000,130 for grenfell tower, they are looking to raise £500,000, 130 households, if they haven't lost their lives, they have lost literally everything. the immediate needs are met at the moment in the various centres. i

don't think they need anything right now but they have asked people to keep an eye on social media because there are 500 people who will need somewhere to stay tonight and there is lots to do, notjust tomorrow and the next day, but over the next 6—9 months. thank you for coming to torture us on a very difficult morning for everybody here. thank you, from a man who has lived very to g re nfell you, from a man who has lived very to grenfell tower for more than ten yea rs. the metropolitan police confirming in the last few moments that six people have been killed here in this devastating fire that began at 12:55am this morning. and the metropolitan police saying that they feared that the death toll will rise. just try to give you also if you details that are coming through

from the fire protection association, which is the uk's national fire safety organisation. not surprisingly referring to this asa not surprisingly referring to this as a devastating fire. they are looking at all the details as they emerge. it goes into some technical detail about the materials that may or may not have been used here. we will go through that in detail and bring you the key points on that because just as our guest was there, and as lots of people have been telling us, there is, and uses it in the conversations, a lot of people are talking about the fact that this tower block was refurbished and that refurbishment finished last year. it was a two year—long refurbishment and a lot of speculation, but we simply do not know at this stage what has gone on here, other than, as we were reflecting with our guest there, clearly it is too called incredibly quickly. we believe it started on the tenth floor. but a

lot of details still to emerge. but we can say with certainty that it took hold very quickly and sadiq khan, the mayor of london, telling us that many medics and firefighters are still at the scene. let us hear from david collins from the local residents association. we have reported concerns repeatedly to the kensington and chelsea tenant management 0rganisation which were not investigated choosing the regeneration works. what were those concerns? concerns over location of boilers, concerns over escape, fire escape lighting, and the list goes on. i have spoken to the council, to councillors, they refuse to

investigate. 90% of residents signed a petition asking for an investigation into the organisation that runs the building and the council turned down, 68% of residents felt they had been bullied. i personally have the contractors who were doing the work come and threaten me in my home, this was the concerns we were dealing with. that man was from one of the residents associations in this area, in the latimer road area. and though an update from our correspondent on another side of the tower block. communications are difficult as you would appreciate at the moment. i think he is lying is not as good quality as we would wish butjust explain where you are and what you

are witnessing? i thinki explain where you are and what you are witnessing? i think i am on the other side of the building and what we have seen in the last hour or so is the fire took hold again right in the middle of the building. it was in an area of the building where hoses from the claim could not reach but the fire services have been able to bring in a large unmanned lather, adjacent to the building, it is directing water into the middle of the building itself. this is an unmanned ladder. hopefully that will be able to put out pretty soon that big fire that took hold in the middle of the building. i have been speaking to one eyewitness who told me how the fire, in her view, started quite low in the building and spread quickly upwards. that may mean that people were trapped towards the top of the building. there doesn't appear to be anybody a life left in the building but the fearfor life left in the building but the fear for the authorities is that as they put the fire out and work higher into the building they may come across more bodies. just to

repeat that statement from the metropolitan police, they can confirm six fatalities at this time following the fire in north kensington in the early hours of this morning, wednesday the 14th of june. these are early stages and they do expect that figure to rise. as the fire commissioner, dany cotton, told us earlier, there have been fatalities, a significant number of injuries, and that number will sadly rise. amid all the recrimination and allegations about warnings given to the authorities, the biggest concern notice to put out the fire and make sure the building itself is safe and is not going to collapse. the commissioner called me when i asked her, she said they were not concerned that the building but collapsed, but that was one hour ago. the concern is that as the fire drags on and if it is not put out there in the building itself would become a serious issue. that is clearly a key element that

we have to keep an eye on, the issue of the structural safety or otherwise of that building. that also puts me in mind of the risks that inevitably the emergency services take at a time like this. we have been hearing from people who mercifully did manage to escape that in the middle of the night. how do they were running down the stairwell, getting out of the building, and firefighters were coming up to try to help people. that is those sort of stories remind us of the risks that emergency personnel take as well. yes, that was quite clear. there have been relief fire crews, ambulance crews, from 0rpington in kent. the commissioner alluded to the bravery of the firefighters. that is why this huge unmanned train is so critical. they were concerned about the integrity of the building itself, they couldn't put firefighters in danger of this monitor try to protect those

blazers, but now they have brought in this high—tech unmanned equipment and hopefully without putting firefighters at risk they will be able to put out the fire. thank you for that update from our correspondent who is on the other side of the tower block from where i am speaking to you here in west london. it is also go to our health correspondent is because she is at st mary's hospital. what are you gleaning the from people who have been taken to hospital? we are still waiting to get the exact numbers of those who are being cheated. we hope to have some indication of that in the next hour or so. indication of that in the next hour or so. i have been here frequent quite a few hours this morning and thatis quite a few hours this morning and that is certainly not business as usual. there are security guards at the door and signed up to feeling a major incident and they are turning patients away who do not necessarily need to be here, unless they are needing to be here they are being asked to go elsewhere today. st

mary's is just a stone's throw from g re nfell tower. mary's is just a stone's throw from grenfell tower. it is one of four london hospitals that deals with major trauma cases, major injuries, so major trauma cases, major injuries, so it was an obvious place to take casualties in the middle of the night. and a lot of staff working through the night. i saw some people who were shattered at the end of the shifts and some really distraught scenes here this morning. 0ne shifts and some really distraught scenes here this morning. one woman i talked to had come to search for herfriend, a mother of three, living on the 20th floor, and was busy distraught that a friend at that point was as yet unaccounted for. some very difficult times here. thank you very much. they update theirfrom st thank you very much. they update their from st mary's thank you very much. they update theirfrom st mary's hospital, not that far from here. theirfrom st mary's hospital, not that farfrom here. let theirfrom st mary's hospital, not that far from here. let us talk to one young lady who i have been chatting to this morning who was born and bred in this part of west

london. thanks so much for speaking to as again on a very difficult day for people like you have lived here a long time. i will ask you first of all, an awful lot of people like you are wearing those masks. i know they are wearing those masks. i know they are being handed out. i am curious. what are your concerns and why are people willing them? the smell, the fumes. i have the worst headache i have ever had. it is just the plastic burning. it is not a good feeling. it is not a good environment to be in. when did you realise that something was happening not that far from where you live? this morning when i had messages from friends and family asking if i was ok. i turned on the news and ran straight down here, can articles and water and came straight down. and you have been handing out clothes and what to people who need it? yes, and what to people who need it? yes, and cnn have put my e—mail address on their facebook page so i have been flooded with people offering rooms and sofas, it is fantastic

hope we have all come together, but it is ata hope we have all come together, but it is at a cost. of course. what have people been saying this morning? what label reflecting on? people are in shock. people are angry. the refurbishment that you mentioned has played a big pa rt that you mentioned has played a big part in the fire. it spread so rapidly, the plastic cladding was like paper, it just rapidly, the plastic cladding was like paper, itjust burn straight through, people are angry and want a nswe rs. through, people are angry and want answers. there were many warnings, people raise concerns and nothing was done about it. it is our home community and it might not matter so much to westminster but it matters to us. angry and sad. many people as possible have go up. regrettably we know not everybody has both are those who have got out and they have lost everything and they have lost a home and

possessions. what sort of help is going to be on offerfor possessions. what sort of help is going to be on offer for those people? as somebody who is grown up here do you think people will be doing what you're doing and opening up doing what you're doing and opening up the doors and saying come and stay? people have been amazing this morning. i'm not the only one making offers of accommodation. people giving up their homes and houses and community centres opening the doors and westway sports centre closing to the public but opening up to people who have lost their homes and friends and everything. you said to me you forge a boss and said you're not going work today.” me you forge a boss and said you're not going work today. i want to stay here and i don't know how much more ican here and i don't know how much more i can help on what you can do to help but feel this is where the need to be right now. i hope everybody that should know and love the safest morning. i believe so. it is not the centre checked just now. it is time

to user productivity to help in need andi to user productivity to help in need and i will check in due course. we hope as well everyone is safe in your world and we wish you all the best to your and family. her story is not unusual. i have been really struck by the number of groups of people and what passed since we've been here in the last number of hours trying to do their bed and trying to help. lots of people grabbing bottles of water and food and taking it around to babel and offering to the emergency services. so the police that one of accordance round the corner a lady turned up with a shopping trolley filled with food and drink and services for all of you. have everything on this trolley. let's talk to helena lee. we are outside chelsea and

westminster hospital. we are probably around three miles or so away from where you are and the location of that tower fire. this is one of five hospitals treating over 50 patients. in the early hours of this morning some of those patients we re this morning some of those patients were brought here to this hospital which is a busy london hospital. it has an accident and emergency department but crucially they have a specialist burns unit and so i am told that some of those more severely injured suffering from pretty severe burns would have been brought here to chelsea and westminster hospital and they have dedicated burns specialist here to treat them. we do not know how many patients are being treated at this hospital but the hospital has said it will provide as with some more detail a bit later today. we know of are all from london ambulance that

over 50 patients were taken to hospital and i suspect that number will probably rise as the hours go on through the day. there were advanced trauma teams sent to the scene as advanced trauma teams sent to the scene as well as a air ambulance in the early hours of this morning and it will be very difficult in terms of treating those patients. but don't forget these hospitals are well rehearsed and well used to dealing with major incidents are still at very difficult situation in terms of the number of patients may have had to take in. —— and they have had to take in. —— and they have had to take in. —— and they have had to take him. if you are just joining have had to take him. if you are justjoining us is worth reminding you regrettably that the metropolitan police this morning are saying that six people and known to have died here in this tower fire saying that six people and known to have died here in this towerfire in the early hours of this morning. six people is what they are telling us at the moment. they say that

reg retta bly at the moment. they say that regrettably they expect that number to rise. there are still emergency services and fire crews at the scene at the base of the building at the tower and at the moment the emphasis has to be making the building structurally sound. it is stories high and we are in the latimer road area of west london. graham fieldhouse has a specialism in fire safety particularly in relation to social housing. thank you so much for joining social housing. thank you so much forjoining us. the one thing we're hearing time and again isjust how quickly the fire spread. i am interested in what you make of specific detail. i'm hoping you can hear me. i was

asking you what your thought about giving how quickly the fire spread. iam from i am from the assp. we have a problem here. i hope can speak to graham fieldhouse shortly. it is a grim scene to keep looking at but we have just seen in the last few minutes to the right of the tower block another fire midway up this block another fire midway up this block which is 24 stories high, you will see a flat and fire there and then to the left—hand side of the tower block the water jets then to the left—hand side of the tower block the waterjets and i think that is the crane wyre davies

was talking about a few minutes ago. it is now have past 11 in the morning and this fire began at five to one this morning. that many hours later there is still a fire in one side of the building there. an absolutely desperate scene and it is absolutely desperate scene and it is a site that nobody expects to see in this country in 2017. that is really what you take away from that. let's hear from what you take away from that. let's hearfrom one what you take away from that. let's hear from one eyewitnesses spoke to victoria derbyshire. there was a bang about one o'clock in the morning and i was greeted by smoke and cloud. once i opened the

door there was so much smoke i shut the door right back. there was no one standing there because the person attempted to block further doors. i close the doors and got some towels and wet them and alerted my wife screaming that this fire. get out. we went into the kids room and wrapped them with towels over their heads and we proceeded to exit their heads and we proceeded to exit the premises. there was the sound of confusion. bells. was there a fire alarm? no. we only have the fire alarm after half— past we only have the fire alarm after half—past one. we only have the fire alarm after half— past one. it we only have the fire alarm after half—past one. it was a fail in terms of safety measures that should have been in place. but someone

banging on your door and you get your wife and two young children.” got the door of my neighbour on the right—hand side and gave a good two kicks and kept running because at this point i didn't wonder kids to be inhaling any more smoke. i didn't wa nt be inhaling any more smoke. i didn't want them to collapse. you were trying to run down the stairs. how far ahead of you could you see? trying to run down the stairs. how far ahead of you could you seam was too dark. an arms length. the whole fire started off on the fourth floor and i love the fourth floor. how do you know that? 0nce floor and i love the fourth floor. how do you know that? once we were going down the stairs we came to the ground floor and exiting the premises and i was confronted by my neighbour who lives in number 16 and he said are you 0k? he was checking me and the kids. is your wife out? i do know his wife also resides in the

premises. i asked do know his wife also resides in the premises. iasked him do know his wife also resides in the premises. i asked him where do know his wife also resides in the premises. iasked him where his do know his wife also resides in the premises. i asked him where his wife was. he says it isjust me and it was. he says it isjust me and it was my fridge that exploded. the guy who lives on the fourth floor next to set his fridge exploded? the fire board were well aware of it and the supervisors at the senior fire brigade were also there and they took some statement of some sort of understanding from him about what was going on. what time was it when you got out? this is no later than ten past one. there was smoke going up ten past one. there was smoke going up to the fifth floor from the stairs. the doors were opened and people are constantly going in and out. one eyewitness talking a little earlier this morning. i think we can

now speak to graham fieldhouse who we re now speak to graham fieldhouse who were trying to talk to a few minutes ago. he is a fire safety expert. graham, i hope you can hear is ok here in west london. thank you for your thoughts this morning. i'm particularly interested to talk to you given the number of people reporting how quickly this fire to call. yes. firstly condolences to those who have lost loved ones. it is clear that the building had recently is clear that the building had rece ntly ha d is clear that the building had recently had cladding put on the external parts of the building which it is quite clear from the building has been the cause of the fire spread going up the side of the building. but there are a number of other areas of concern that one would need to raise and that is why did the escape routes within the means of escape gets so quickly fire cloa ked ? means of escape gets so quickly fire cloaked ? why was means of escape gets so quickly fire cloaked? why was smoke logging happening there? the doors should

have held back the fire with the flat. people should have had at least half an hour to evacuate the building. that does not seem to have happened here. that is a responsibility under regulation 38 of approved document to for information for the sufferer spread of fire put on the external parts of the building and that should be recorded there. those are the sorts of questions that will be needed is to be answered in the early days and looked at. this is not something new. when laknal happening 2009 one of the issues was the surface spread of the issues was the surface spread of fire. there are two specific points definitely want to pick up on. let's talk about the cladding. you are saying that the cladding is

the reason for the fire going up the side of the building. the poor will be asking why it is even use? we will want to know what specification reduced. it does not travel up concrete and the cladding was there so on concrete and the cladding was there so on the face of it the cladding was the cause of the fire. they has been speculation and we should have sprinkler systems in the flat but whether that would have helped in internal parts of the building to stop there questions of state policy and the staple to policy —— stay put policy. if it

isa to policy —— stay put policy. if it is a singular staircase building those are the same steers the fire brigade are trying to get up. this is very unusual the way that this fire has happened and i'm sure a lot of people need to look at what was the causation and what was the specifications for the cladding that was on what got from safety 55 the j’ it h“ l---” safety 55 the project. ‘ l---” safety 55 the project. why l---” safetyé the project. why did - was managing the project. why did the fire doors not do theirjob internally? why were people not able to get into the means of escape and should've been compartmentalised areas like butter shoe boxes. the fire should have been stopped for at least half an hour. why did that not happen? why were people reporting that they came out the flat a moment after the fire started the fourth floor and one man said it was already smoke filled. whether fibre

was working properly? what was a causation for the small cladding? those are the questions of fire safety experts want to be asking right now. we did the obligatory to have sprinklers in a block of flats the size and is it obligatory to have fire alarms, it seems extraordinary that a 24 storey building does not have fired alarms on every floor. the requirement forfire have fired alarms on every floor. the requirement for fire alarms as the minimum of ldc grade s, your normal battery operated. the recommendation would be delayed the system. i would recommendation would be delayed the system. iwould recommend it recommendation would be delayed the system. i would recommend it in places like that, two grade d, rapid heatin places like that, two grade d, rapid heat in the kitchen, and smoke in

the hallway. you would not get fire alarms in the communal parts of the building because when you hear a fire alarm you escape, if the fire is in the communal part you do not wa nt is in the communal part you do not want people to escape to the communal part, that would not make sense. the only reason for alarms and communal parts would be to have vents to clear smoke. those questions would need to be asked as to what smoke detection was in the flats when a fire risk assessment was done, what checks were done to ensure that smoke and fire alarm systems in there met the minimum requirements, what recommendations we re requirements, what recommendations were made, but also, where the fire doors working? 0ne were made, but also, where the fire doors working? one of the reasons that lack of what were the reasons that lack of what were the reasons that people did not make an escape out of the building? lots of questions that have got to be

answered. questions to be asked. but we need to get the right people asking. in 2009, nearly ten years on from there, we are still having issues that people are not carrying out a fire risk assessment correctly, or specifying correctly. is that the issue here? we do not know. but that needs to be questioned. and to try to put it as simply as one can, afire to try to put it as simply as one can, a fire breaks out in a flat on a given floor, and one of your key point here is that fire should be contained, there should be fire doors and other elements in place? absolutely. it should not spread to the rest of the building. it should be contained in the flat of origin. we assume a fire from a flat of origin should be contained within that individual flat then the fire, next containment level, should be

fire doors along escape routes, certainly to the steer well, that should be a second protection, the sta ble should be a second protection, the stable should be kept clear. if those two things are done then people have got time to get out if they need to. on sprinkler systems, people should be looking at all the options, all the ways forward, but certainly we want to consider decent fire doors that do a decentjob. at charring cross hospital we have four patients none of whom are critical. i am four patients none of whom are critical. lam proud four patients none of whom are critical. i am proud of the potassic response. “— critical. i am proud of the potassic response. —— at charing cross hospital. i am response. —— at charing cross hospital. lam proud response. —— at charing cross hospital. i am proud of the fantastic response. we are ensuring

that we are doing everything to support those affected by this dreadful incident. 0ur accident and emergency departments at both hospitals remain busy and we are asking members of the public to attend only if it is an emergency. we are asking where possible we attend general practice or wok in centres. we are trying to see as many patients with scheduled appointments as possible during this time. —— attend general practice or walk in centres. i think he is going to be taking questions from journalists. i cannot answer those questions at the moment. let us talk no to seal who works in

this area, thank you for speaking to us. you used to live in the area and i know you still working.” us. you used to live in the area and i know you still working. i have you come back to you today? i was working this morning and was standing on the train station ready to go back to put it which is where i live now and i basically felt drawn to come here and to help. looking at the reality of what is behind you know, it struck me that i could not simply go home so i came here and offered to help. and you are here and offered to help. and you a re clearly here and offered to help. and you are clearly collecting, in aid of what? i think at the moment that money is being collected in aid of whatever might be needed. at the moment the situation is very uncertain about survivors,

fatalities. this is local people getting together and sticking a bit of yellow paper on a box and asking people to donate. and the response has been amazing. teenage boys bringing money and putting it on. there are people round they are praying together. people are bringing donations. it is an atmosphere of people getting together and trying to make this awful situation better. as someone who used to live in this area is that what it was like when you lift here? does that surprise you, iam picking up you lift here? does that surprise you, i am picking up on a strong community. yes, this is a very strong community. people are hugging each other. people know each other, it is an enormously strong community in north kensington, as in the entire notting hill gate area. no surprise to me that people are getting together and trying to help. people are coming from other areas

and turning up and asking to help. the atmosphere has changed as well. when i first arrived it felt quite panicky and people could not believe it. now it has kind of calms down and everybody is just getting on with it. i will let you get back to your work. thank you forjoining us. i can't overstate how many people i have seen in this area handing out water and food and trying to offer help and places to stay for people whose properties are no affected and may not be able to go back into their properties as well until g re nfell tower their properties as well until grenfell tower behind me is deemed safe. let us hear from another eyewitness who spoke earlier on. 0n the six months ago there was a fire over there, a fire on the 23rd

floor, it was contained to one flat, it was controlled, no major casualties, why did that not happen here. this is kensington balloch council, they are trying save money. this is a disaster. it was like waking up in a horrorfilm. how did you get out? just my wits. i had to get them out. i love them. i made sure she was all right with her breathing then i got down the stairs. we looked up, it was engulfed. we were only another five minutes we would not have been able to get out with the thickness of the smoke. your thoughts of the sea with those who have lost their lives? my heart goes out to everybody. the ones that have passed and the ones that are still here. this is traumatic. this is not something you are going to get over tomorrow and go and have a couple of paint and laugh about it. i am gutted about it all. my life is turned upside down. we had just started afresh,

jewellery, money, passports, calls, we have got nothing. people had to give me close today. thank god for people's generosity and kindness. i should be walking around in my boxer shorts. where are you going to sleep tonight? up that tree. it is desperate. people are opening their homes. yes, what we don't want to do is go with that and we lose out on our accommodation. we have got nowhere to go, if they think you have somewhere to go you get pushed to one site, you are left up the canal without a paddle. let's hear from some other people who live locally and witnessed terrible scenes. the whole side of the

building was in flames. people screaming, help me. people throwing their kids out. fire brigade telling people to stay where they were, we'll come and get you. in 15 minutes the whole thing up in flames. you could see the fire going into the house and engulfing the entire

apartment. what did you see? it escalated very quickly. it was around a third floor around midnight and then before you knew it all 23 floors of the building were on fire. people were screaming for help. throwing kids out. everyone felt helpless. everyone was scared and did not know what to do. it was very sad to see. these are all people that we grew up with and that we see every day, they are our neighbours. there were little kids there, elderly people, disabled people. a lot of people there. family members. that is still a lot of people that were there. my brother, lord of his school friends, they are wondering at the friends have got out. —— a lot of his school

friends. and someone living on the top four, the advice is if you were living there, you have not made it. and you talked about the speed with which the flames took hold. that is the shocking thing. how quick it we nt the shocking thing. how quick it went from zero to 100. it was the fourth floor. it was bad but it was minor. the building is big. that is what shocked people the most, how quick it happened, literally the entire building was gone. it did not even had one clock and the entire building was all in flames. did you see people getting out? yes, i saw people coming out of the balconies and windows, i saw a people coming out of the balconies and windows, i sawa man people coming out of the balconies and windows, i saw a man who flew out of his window, people jumping out. we saw a lot of people jumping

out. we saw a lot of people jumping out that basically didn't make it. it was a lot of panic. from the big four under. but floor you would not make it. i had a family friend who was stuck in the building until five o'clock but luckily they made it out. people higher up, it got out of control so quickly, it was a split second decision, the entire building was on fire. it started off on one floor and a took one side and then the entire building and there was nothing you could do but watch what was unfolding in front of you. were you aware of concerns about safety issues? no, i didn't know anything, they built a new school, they knocked down the leisure centre and build a new one, at the time i did not personally know about anything

that had happened. it was around 12 o'clock. i was actually a week. i we nt o'clock. i was actually a week. i went to bed. 30 minutes later i walk up went to bed. 30 minutes later i walk up to flames. it happened really quickly. 0ne one of the many eyewitnesses we have been speaking to hear this morning. i cannot overstate what a truly horrific sight this is. we look at the pictures of the tower block still having a water sprayed on itand block still having a water sprayed on it and still we see some flames inside that building. the emergency services say that six people have died. scotland yard say the death

toll is expected to rise. jane hill is at the scene for this. north kensington in west london. a truly horrific sight and not something that any of us should see in great britain in 2017. 24 story tower block has gone up in flames and a relatively short space of time is. the fire broke out at five to one in the morning. it requires little imagination to think about how many people were inside asleep. families and he's a class of different sizes. we have had stories of people who mercifully did manage to escape and stories of remarkable bravery on the

pa rt stories of remarkable bravery on the part of emergency services and those who did manage to get down the stair wells and out the middle of the night talked about firefighters passing them upstairs trying to get people out. 11 hours later the still fire at the right—hand side of the building. it is devastating and terribly upsetting site. let's just try to bring all the details that we so try to bring all the details that we so far. the metropolitan police say they know at least six people have been killed in the fire. the fire raged through the night. this 27—storey block, home to hundreds of people, was engulfed in flame. in the chaos, it was unclear how many were able to get out. some were trapped inside, for some time at least, standing at windows in the desperate hope of rescue. those trapped on the lower floors

could see fire crews trying to get to them, but higher up the building, the inferno was too intense to let rescuers get close. people living nearby, alerted by the smell of smoke, came to the site and filmed what they saw. many had come to see if they could help, but with flaming debris falling from the tower block, their lives were at risk too. you need to ring 999, and there is a dedicated line for this incident, 0k? 0n the ground, police cleared a wide cordon and closed the nearby a40 in and out of london. some 200 fire engines were brought in to tackle the blaze. as it became more intense, the concern was whether the building might collapse and who might still be trapped inside. many people were led to safety, but some 30 were taken to hospital. others were counting their blessings.

david benjamin was in the block when the fire began. there was smoke everywhere, literally everywhere. there was people downstairs. there was bits of cladding falling off the block that was on fire, people screaming. after a couple of minutes, obviously people were still sleeping on the higher floors, so they didn't have a clue what was going on. still not even sure half of them got out, to be honest with you. me and my brother ran to the other side of the estate and that was people throwing the children down saying this save my children. people we re saying this save my children. people were saying we will come and get you. stay where you are. but things quickly escalated. apparently there are a lot of kids from the school that msn. there were a lot of young kids and all the people living on the block. it went right up living on the block. it went right up and was no way of stopping it. daylight revealed the fire

is still well alight — the situation still far from under control, and more stories emerging of the panic overnight. iam very i am very sad to confirm there are a number of fatalities. equally the cause of this file is not known at this stage. —— this fire. the block is now a smoking ruin. it had at multi—million pound refurbishment two years ago. residents are wondering where they will live. we need to house these people. there are 500 people milling around not knowing whether loved ones are aware that will sleep tonight. this is a committee in shock. the immediate aftermath is horrific enough but there will be a

long—term impact too. horrific enough but there will be a long-term impact too. this nurse help survivors overnight. i have seen some help survivors overnight. i have seen some things but today i can't even describe it. there are mothers who have come out and lost their children. there are firefighters who have come out injured and people have come out injured and people have lost their homes and children of seeing things and people jumping out the window and we need to rebuild as it amusing. -- we need to rebuild as it amusing. -- we need to rebuild as it amusing. -- we need to rebuild as a community. it may be some time before the number of casualties is known and they larger question is how did this fire spread so question is how did this fire spread so quickly? let's just give you some context as to where grenfell tower is. located in north west london, around zone two. the building is very close

to latimer road tube station and the a40 which is a key arterial route into central london. there is a large police cordoned here inevitably. there is considerable disruption to transport in terms of the roads. it wasn't too bad on the tube stations but there was a lot on the roads. westfield shopping centre is nearby. grenfell tower itself was built in 1974 and is 24 stories high. you will pick up on the fact that a lot of the people in the area talk about the refurbishment which took nearly two years and was completed

last year and one of the element of that refurbishment was some cladding put on the outside of the building and that is a lot of talk and some anger locally about love that this morning. crucially we don't know what has caused this fire but a lot of anger and what has caused this fire but a lot ofangerand a what has caused this fire but a lot of anger and a lot of talk about that refurbishment. we will pick up on some of that in the next little while as well. let's hear from on some of that in the next little while as well. let's hearfrom my colleague wyre davies who is on the other side of the tower. police and the other emergency services are keeping vehicles and people well away from the site itself and we're just on the of the cordoned. there isa just on the of the cordoned. there is a great deal of concern about the integrity of the building itself and the fire commissioner told me earlier on the did not think of the building was in danger of falling down that was a couple of hours ago

and there was a lot of concern about the fire retaking in the centre of the fire retaking in the centre of the tower block itself and for a while it was inaccessible. what the fire services have been able to do in the last hour is bring in an absolutely huge unmanned crane which is pumping hundreds of gallons of water right into the model of the building itself. —— middle. it is not putting any firefighters at risk and can get right up adjacent to the cause of the building and is hammering the building with gallons and gallons of water and that is hopefully working. previously it was a difficult to get that huge seat of fire right in the middle of the building. i spoke to one eyewitness told me she saw the fire starting last night at 23 o'clock and it started right at the bottom of the

building and spread very quickly upwards of which does raise concerns that people in those upper floors may not been able to get out. we know that 0s may not been able to get out. we know that os x fatalities of fire but that number is expected to rise and as soon as those fires are put out and rescuers and emergency services can get into the building sadly they do expect to find more fatalities. —— we do know there 0s sadly they do expect to find more fatalities. —— we do know there os x fatalities. —— we do know there os x fatalities in the fire. —— are six fatalities. we have heard of amazing stories of bravery and we know that our fire crews coming in from as far away as kent to relieve fire crews here. the smell of the

smoke is very strong and periodically we get scattered pieces of ash and lots of debris. the pavements in a cupboard and all the equipment reducing is covered in this light film of ash and depending which direction the wind is and to smell is very strong indeed. a really bleak reminder many streets away of what has happened here. let's go to one of the hospitals dealing with people affected by this terrible fire. helena lee is there. we have just had the latest statement from the london ambulance service and as expected that the number of those injured has increased since about an hour ago. it isa increased since about an hour ago. it is a very complex and fluid situation where you are so the latest numbers we know from the london ambulance service, 74 people are now being treated in hospital

and those at 20 patients we are told are ina and those at 20 patients we are told are in a critical condition. ten of those patients made their own way to hospital so 74 patients in hospital at the moment and 20 in a critical condition. here at chelsea and westminster hospital we are about three miles or so away from where you are. patients were brought here overnight and we don't know how many are being treated here at the moment but it is a busy london hospital and they have an accident and the mayor to see hospital here and crucially have a specialist burns unit here. they have multidisciplinary teams which include specialist burns consultancy and nurses and also psychologists because as well as the medical treatment in these patients will receive clearly as we have had from eyewitnesses they will have gone through a hugely dramatic experience last night. —— traumatic.

that is the latest from the hospital here. we expect a statement here sometime in the next hour or so. those numbers, 74 patients in hospital and 20 in a critical condition. the metropolitan police say that six people have been killed in this fire. 74 people in hospital and 20 of them in applicable condition. stephen wren runs the westway sports centre. your point is that you have close down which would normally do and you're opening up to anyone who needs help. there is lots

of, coming to the community here, mobilisation very quickly. you have latimer church committee centre and westway sports centre which is a large indoor space and that is fully available for anybody to come and respite and we have a lot of stuff being brought to the centre as we speak so food and drink and an opportunity for the food community to come together. —— for the community to come together. i think eve ryo ne community to come together. i think everyone is in a state of shock and it is such a situation which is continuing to unfold. we need to get through this the best we can. there are people who will be homeless or unable to get back into their homes and if they live inside this cordoned. how much do you know about where people might be able to live

temporarily? we are liaising with the council and have made our space available for as long as it is needed. i think the council are mobilising quite quickly in terms of arranging overnight accommodation but as i say the westway sports centre is available immediately. that is very close by. thank you very much forjoining us. i will let you get back as a nose is an extremely busy time for you. david collins is the former chair of residents association we repeatedly reported concerns to te na nt we repeatedly reported concerns to tenant management organisations and the royal borough of kensington and chelsea which were not investigated during regeneration works.

i have spoke to nick paget—brown of the council, and counsellors, they have refused to investigate it. 90% of residents signed a petition asking for an investigation. the council turned down. 68% of residents felt they had been harassed pressured or bullied by the same organisation. i personally had the contracts manager that run the work come and threaten me on my door. that was the conditions we we re door. that was the conditions we were dealing with. they does not listen to our concerns. let me read you a statement from the company in relation to the tower block. there is a lot of talk and anger about the refurbishment of