LF: Several dead in west London residential tower fire (High-rise building engulfed in flames

Title: Several dead in west London residential tower fire (High-rise building engulfed in flames - does NOT collapse)
Source: CNN
URL Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/europe/west-london-fire/index.html
Published: Jun 14, 2017
Author: Joshua Berlinger, James Griffiths and An
Post Date: 2017-06-14 06:28:16 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1475
Comments: 5

London (CNN)A massive fire that tore through a 24-story apartment building in west London has claimed a number of lives, fire officials confirmed, as rescuers frantically worked to reach people believed still trapped.

Twitter user @Natalie_Oxford uploaded this image of the fire

London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton there had been "a number of fatalities" but she could not confirm how many. "In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never seen anything of this scale," she said.

Leaping from windows

Two women who live nearby watched the fire break out said they saw people leap from the tower to save themselves.

"They literally just jumped ... (they) must have thought, we're not going to sit here and suffocate," Samira Awil said, adding she had seen bodies of "kids, women, men" covered in sheets outside the building.

Tamara Eastmond said a lot of people appeared to be unaccounted for. "We literally watched a man burn to death in his flat," she told CNN. "We saw the flames enter his flat and (overcome) him."

Some witnesses told CNN residents were at first told to stay inside the building when the blaze broke out.

Emergency personnel prepare in an open area near the fire.

Photos: Fire engulfs apartment block in West London

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has activated a "major emergency plan" in response to the blaze.

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Photos: Fire engulfs apartment block in West London

Smoke rises from the fire at the Grenfell Tower apartment block in North Kensington, London, on Wednesday, June 14. According to the London Fire Brigade, 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters are working to put out the blaze. Residents in the tower were said to be evacuating and a number of people were treated for a "range of injuries," Metropolitan Police said.

One woman said her friend inside for three hours and was told by police to wait and put towels down to block the doors. When no-one came to help, she decided to escape on her own, the woman said.

Another witness said a family friend was "stuck on the eighth floor with her 5-year-old daughter" until 5 a.m., almost four hours after the fire broke out.

Asif: People were jumping out of windows

Grenfell Tower

Grenfell Tower is part of the sprawling Lancaster West Estate, an enclave of social housing managed by a private agency on behalf of the London Borough of Kensignton and Chelsea. While the borough is one of the most affluent in London, North Kensington is a particularly deprived district.

The tower was built in the 1970s and recently subject to a $10.9 million redevelopment,

Smoke and flames rise from the Grenfell Tower building on fire in London.

A boxing gym and a nursery are housed in the tower, according to a news release last year from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Before the renovation there were 120 apartments in the building.

Local councilor Robert Atkinson told CNN that the renovation works had modernized the building. "The building needed to be brought up to date with new kitchens and new heating systems," he said, adding that safety certificates had been issued and the council had been "told it had all been brought up to date."

Cladding had been added to the outside of the building, blamed by some residents for helping the fire to spread so quickly.

That "redevelopment" included flammable cladding added to the exterior to make it look good, but no sprinkler system.

Then you fill the "social housing" with third-world refugees who don't even know how to use a toilet, much less an oven, and this is what happens.

Latest developments

Leaping from windows

Grenfell Tower