richard bilton‘s special report contains distressing scenes from the start. this programme contains scenes that some viewers may find upsetting. it's been six days since britain's worst fire in living memory. they were warned several times, countless times. they were warned probably until the day before the fire. panorama has been with the people of grenfell tower... we've got a 12—year—old missing. ...as they deal with the worst possible news. he died, yes? ...as heroes are made. ...as they ask: where's the help? what sort of official support have you had? absolutely nothing. and demand to know how

could this happen? the disaster of grenfell tower and why it should never have happened. grenfell tower on fire. fire brigade and everything. fire's spreading up. look. whoa, look. fire brigade and everything. fire's spreading up. look. whoa, look. it's 1am and the fire has started in a fridge in a flat on the fourth floor. mahad and jamie are next door. we heard a loud bang — on the front door. next thing we know, he's running in telling me, there's a fire, get the kids. we're on the fourth floor. it was the flat next door, that was number 16.

they're trying their best. he grabbed the towels, wet them, put them on the kids' heads and dragged us all out. grenfell tower in west london has 2a floors with up to six flats on each level, home to around 600 people. four floors above the fire one resident has stayed up late. i was playing playstation. i was in front of the tv. i kept on smelling like kind of a plastic melting and i'm thinking, what's the smell? i saw the lights outside my window, the flashing lights. i saw smoke and like sparks and flames on the sixth to seventh floor. that's when i realised there's a fire. the fire quickly swept around the whole building. i have a friend of mine who lives with me. around iam alarm went off. he run into my room as well and he said, "luka, something is going on."

about at 1.30am, there's little sign of panic. on the eighth floor khalid is the only person awake. i opened the door to look into the corridor to see if other people were there as well. that's when i realised that my whole floor wasjust quiet, no—one had woken up. everyone was asleep. rather than run for his life, khalid starts waking his neighbours. i knocked on their door and he opened the door. he said, "what's wrong?" and i go, "there's a fire." but within minutes, the hall is full of smoke. the whole corridorjust went pitch black and it was just smoke. higher up on the 11th floor, luka tries to find the staircase, but the smoke is too thick. i was almost unconscious, but i knew friend of mine still in the apartment. i couldn't leave him in the apartment and i decide to go back to pick him up.

he was in shock. he was shaking. he was frightened completely. we took deep breath, both of us, with the cloths on the mouth and i was trying to find the way to the fire escape. luckily, we found it. there's loads of people standing on the higher level... somebody was banging on the doorfrom inside, from the hallway side. we opened the door, there was a lady, asian lady, maybe 70 plus. she was crying. she was really, really out of control. we managed to get down, i don't know, two floors, i was trying to carry her. i ask her, can you walk, like, we will help you,

we're not going to leave you. she said, "ok, just don't leave me." oh, no. oh, my god. when i was out of the building, seeing people come from other areas and scream my granddad's in there, my dad's in there, my brother's in there, my friends are in there — that made it 100 times worse. a ferocious fire is now ripping through people's homes. oh, my god. it literally looked like it was fizzing. i think no more than half an hour after the flames were popping out of the window, the whole building was immersed. 0n the ground, neighbours likejoe watch in horror. i actually saw two figuresjust drop. i could see their arms and legs and stuff moving. there's someone in the top shining his light. oh, my days. sos. that was the worst part for me, when you see people —

you can actually see — these are human beings, actual human people like us. he's made a rope from his bed and he's sent it down. when theyjumped, when they felt that it was just instinct and you wanted to get away from the heat or anything like that, i genuinely don't know. that is when it became burned on my memory. britain wakes to a disaster zone in the heart of london. a tower block still burning out of control. firefighters are still trying to get people out. i said to her, they're coming.

they're coming for you. they're coming to get you. erm...... i don't know if they did. it's already clear many are dead. and scores of people are unaccounted for. for many, this is the longest day. there's very little official information. everywhere you go, people are worried or searching or grieving. i heard all sort of news, one whole family came out, but they're all in a coma. 0therfamilies only four kids came out. she has about ten or eight. the smoking building sits

above the whole area. now, this is a traumatised area, because people watched it happen. they watched the horror unfold. people have said to us, look, the bodies are still in there. we're looking at that and the bodies are still in there. alongside the searching and the horror, something extraordinary happens. people go onto the streets and start giving their time and their possessions to those in need. baby food and baby milk, yeah? turned on the news and just ran straight down here,

grabbed clothes, some water. we're trying to help with trauma. we have vicars, a trauma team here. we've asked the local public to donate. as you can see, there's been a great response. this is amazing, it seems completely spontaneous. all these people have come herejust to help, to give what they can, to do what they can, to volunteer. i spent 13—and—a—half years in the london fire brigade. this is humanity. this is what life should be about. someone‘s in trouble, we'll come and help. you might expect an emergency plan, even the army, but there only seems to be volunteers offering help on the streets. so many people have come around the community. yeah. she's giving me a hand. we're all together. it's a community. how are we going to get over it, it's a different problem.

at the end of the first day the official number of dead is 12. but those who live around the tower know many more have been lost. there's people still missing. but be honest in your heart, you know the survivors from up on the top floor, there's no—one there, is there? there's no—one. we know they're all dead.

we've got a 12—year—old missing. it's been 21 hours since mahad escaped from the fourth floor. some of mahad's friends thought he was dead. i'm so pleased for you. they've just found out he and his partner are alive. i'm so glad you guys are ok. do you need anything? but many can't find who they're looking for. maria knows her brother was near the top of the tower block at 1am, just as the fire started. my brother, he lives on the 20th floor. he is disabled. he cannot walk. my mum called him at iam and he told her, there is fire. she told him come down. he told her, no, i called the police and the police said to me, don't leave your flat. they asked me to put towel on the door. he was talking, but he said he couldn't breathe from the smoke. what do you think has happened to your brother? gone. that's what i think.

he's gone. while we're filming, a friend arrives with news. when did you speak to them? 3.30. 2.30? 3.30. and what he say? he died, yes? i don't know. we don't know, but he didn't leave the house. he didn't leave the house. the friend spoke to maria's brother much later in the night and he was still trapped on the 20th floor. so he couldn't make it? i don't know that. 0h, maria. you 0k, maria? he's up there. please, we need some police. we need some police to find out.

so many people dead or missing. one question stands out: how can a small kitchen fire in one flat lead to all this loss? 0n the streets, you hear the same points being raised. people here have four main concerns: that residents were told to stay in their flats. that there was no central fire alarm or sprinkler system. and that the cladding on the outside of the building, it seemed to spread the fire. it's important to understand the way

these concrete blocks were designed. fires are supposed to be contained in individualflats. so you don't necessarily need sprinklers or central alarms, because the building's fire—proof structure should give firefighters enough time. so why didn't that happen in grenfell tower? panorama has been told by senior fire sources and residents that firefighters did put out the initialfridge fire. the fire in the flat was out. the plan was working. the danger should have been over. staying put would have

been the right advice. quick, quick guys. but crucial changes had been made to the tower's once fireproof exterior. so this building has been taken from a building where fire could not possibly spread across the surface of the building from flat to flat, to one which was a death trap. grenfell tower had been covered in cladding as part of a refurbishment a couple of years ago. it was supposed to help insulate the building. the cladding used was the cheaper, less fire—resistant variety. so it's the cladding that changes everything. that safety model doesn't work if the fire spreads rapidly and that seems to be what happened here. i think there are questions definitely to be asked about the quality of cladding, there's questions about how the cladding was applied to the building. for example what happens if flame gets behind the cladding. i would say it's wicked that these people have lost their lives totally and utterly unnecessarily. i will admit i broke down and cried.

i knew that there would be a huge number of fatalities. what i also knew is that i had warned about this. it was foreseeable and these deaths are totally and utterly unnecessary. so what's the view of the man that runs the council that owns the building? nobody designs a building that does what happened on wednesday morning. that is nobody's intention or expectation. but it does happen if you don't spend the money properly, because the design is flawed, because the material is cheap. it is banned in other countries, sir. we will need to look at the material, at the specification for what was done in the refurbishment of grenfell tower, but the council's intention at the time was to improve those homes. the authorities had been warned about the dangers of renovating tower blocks.

six people were killed after a fire in a modernised building in london in 2009. by 2013, the government was promising a review of safety regulations. it still hasn't happened. the parliamentary fire safety group has written to the government about a dozen times warning lives are in danger. panorama has obtained those letters. the mps say, can we really afford to wait for another tragedy? they complain life safety implications are not considered to be urgent and just two months ago they were still warning the government it is now time to listen. the government acknowledged that producing a statement on building regulations had taken longer than expected. today, the government told us that it still doesn't have a timeline for the review it promised in 2013.

red tape is seen as a burden. well, red tape is the sort of thing that says, you have a one—hour fire door on your flat. that's red tape to some people. to people living in a block of flats, that's the difference between life and death. the government now says the cladding at grenfell tower was already banned. but that's not true. the regulations are unclear, that's why it's still being used. we have spent four years saying, listen, we have got the evidence, we have provided you with the evidence, there is clear public opinion towards this and i think you ought to move on it. the building management company and the council who own the building didn't have to rely on official warnings. they were told by those who live in grenfell tower that the building wasn't safe.

in a blog six months ago, the residents predicted a disaster. only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord. the grenfell action group predict that it won't be long before the words of this blog come back to haunt kctmo management. they can't say that they haven't been warned. they were warned several times. countless times. they were before before the regeneration. they were warned during the regeneration. they were warned after the regeneration. they were warned probably until the day before the fire and what did they do about it? they did nothing. they were ignored, sir, weren't they? they said there would be a catastrophe and there was. sadly, there has been acatastrophe, i don't think anybody can deny there's been a catastrophe, but what's concerning me and the council at this stage is first of all why the fire started and secondly why it spread so quickly.

that rapid spread meant firefighters were walking into a multi—storey inferno — a situation they had never seen before. that's a real block. 0h, bleep. jesus. how's that possible? it's jumped up along the flats. bleep. that was housing. i've never heard of an incident where people are actually discussing the possibility that people might not come out. despite that, large numbers of firefighters went into that building.

i know that normal procedures were broken, normal safety rules were broken. they risked lives? yes, they risked their lives to try and save other people's lives... sorry. so where does this disaster leave the thousands across the country who live in renovated flats? if there's a fire, should they stay or run? the government has announced a review of all high rise buildings, particularly those with cladding. i hope it's a turning point. it cannot be ignored. there are 4,000 tower blocks that were identified back in 2009. these people have the right to live in safety. there is going to be some perishable food coming that needs to be sorted into boxes.

you have got manpower, but ladies you would be probably be better to sort it all. over the course of the week, the volunteer army grew and grew. by friday, so much had been donated the community was struggling to keep up. to the council, i would like to say, please, can you free up some storage for us, because everywhere is saying we are full, we are full and yet more people are bringing, so what do we do? i have been here since the beginning and one of the amazing things is the way the community has pulled together. and spontaneously looked after itself. it is incredibly impressive. what i also have to say i've seen very little official help. now it may be here, but i haven't seen it. and neither have many of the local residents. can i have a word? they go off. we are going to talk one at a time. what's making us angry is that where do you see any real officials doing anything? if this was two weeks

ago when the election was happening, every councillor could have been down here vying for votes. this is the poor city and you have got the rich city. we pay our taxes, i work, if you're paying your taxes and you are a resident in this community, why aren't you not counted as one? you know that this the richest borough of london? they're trying to get poor people out. you're telling me these people if there was rich people living there it wouldn't be put out in half an hour? it isjust poor people dying, that is what it is. many here do think if they were wealthy, there would be more support. and with nobody apparently taking responsibility, the prime minister has become a target. back, back. she did nothing. move out of the way. it is all a publicity stunt. presumably she has some type of a heart and soul, but she really doesn't. it is cold. we need to hear you talk. this is awful.

but the council is the main focus of anger. the crowd gathers at kensington town hall. people are very angry here and truthfully this has been coming. for the first couple of days, people were just smashed by what happened. but now people are demanding answers. three days since the fire, this has now become a flash point, this door to the council has become the focus of all the anger a community feels. they have got lots of questions, they're very angry at the people inside here. people don't want on the whole here a confrontation, but there is the one now at the front of this building. let them out, let them out! do they want to hear the people? because i want to tell you, we need to be heard.

we need to be heard. we all have things to say. nojustice. theresa may! the crowd marches back to grenfell tower. they're murderers. it takes them through some of britain's richest streets. when do we want it? they haven't made their excuse. what do you think of what's happening. this protest, it is fantastic. why? it was abn outrage and the terrible thing for this community and the council don't listen to what people would say. people want to come to our communities and divide it. that's not happening. stick together. because we are one. the people who died in that tower were let down by the system. the people who survived feel that they

were let down again, because they got no help. do you feel guilty, sir? i'm obviously extremely upset by the scale of devastation that took place last wednesday morning and i support all the efforts that are being put into place, the inquiries that are being set up. the latest prediction is that 79 people lost their lives in the grenfell tower. mahad has given up completely on support from the authorities. i have not seen the head of kensington and chelsea housing come out to the victims and say, we're working on this. the people who are responsible for the safety of kensington and chelsea community are not doing enough. joe has been moved back into his apartment block next to the tower. and luka, who escaped from the 11th floor, has been reunited with

the woman he saved. are you the one? lam. as far as i remember, a big man helped me out. opened the door and put me... oh, my god! 0h! it's ok. today, the country paused to remember those who died in the tower. what started as a kitchen fire, brought britain to a halt. a disaster that showed how the state failed to protect people and then failed to look after those who survived. grenfell tower stands as a monument to a system that simply didn't work. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is gavin grey.

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