London's fire chief said Thursday that authorities don’t expect to find anyone else alive after the high-rise blaze in Britain's capital early Wednesday and that they "genuinely don’t know" how many people died in the incident. The death toll currently stands at 17, although that is expected to increase as emergency workers sift through more of the wreckage at the residential building in west London’s North Kensington district.
The fire also injured dozens of people, 18 of them critically. The cause of the blaze is not known and under investigation, but a tenants’ group had complained for years about the risk of a fire. Investigators are still searching for victims and the families of those unaccounted for have been appealing on social media for information.
Witnesses described harrowing scenes as the building became an inferno with people, including children, jumping out of windows to escape the heat. Entire families may be missing.
The Grenfell Tower has 20 floors of apartments and 4 floors of mixed-used residential and office space. How many people were in the building during the fire has not been established. Up to 600 people lived in the building's 120 apartments.
Firefighters extinguished the last of the flames Thursday and the top floors of the building are still being searched, but London's fire commissioner Dany Cotton that due to the intensity of the heat it would be "an absolute miracle for anyone to be left alive." Around 200 firefighters respondent to the massive fire and Cotton said that some were traumatized. "We like to think of ourselves as ‘roughty, toughty’ and heroes —they are heroes — but they have feelings, and people were absolutely devastated." Britain's monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh also spoke about the firefighters on Thursday. "Prince Philip and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of firefighters and other emergency services officers who put their own lives at risk to save others," the queen said.
Theresa May says the community around the Grenfell Tower are right to demand answers. In a pooled interviewed she confirmed that she has ordered a full inquiry. “We need to ensure that this tragedy is fully investigated. People deserve answers. The inquiry will give them,” she said. She said she overwhelmed by the bravery of the firefighters when she visited the scene today. SURVIVORS of the tower block inferno stumbled over bodies as they desperately fought their way through black smoke to escape down the stairwell.
Dozens of residents at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London, are feared dead — weeks after a £10million refurbishment of the block that developers said was safe. Local residents warned of the potential fire risk in London's Grenfell Tower apartment block nearly 18 months before the complex was engulfed in a giant blaze, saying they feared people could be trapped inside if a fire broke out. Key points:
The Grenfell Action Group said it was worried people would be trapped if fire broke out in the tower block It's still not clear how many people were unable to get out as the fire took hold flat london UK England "London England" "west london" "london flat" "london home" "london apartment" "rent london" fire "fire fighter" family emergency "united kingdom" "health and safety" people window "home fire" "home insurance" 2017 experience community friends donate donation missing construction insulation work "construction work" building contract winter summer "summer 2017" "home insulation" boiler "fire exit" electric exit tower british The block was undergoing refurbishment which could have blocked exits Former chairman of the building's residents' association David Collins told the he and other residents had repeatedly pushed for an investigation into the "incompetent" tenant management organisation. "There were fire and security concerns. You look at the Grenfell Action Group (GAG) blog," he said on Wednesday. "We used to joke that it would take a tragedy before they would do anything." "At the end of 2015, beginning of 2016 we carried out a survey.
90 per cent of residents asked for an independent investigation into the tenant management organisation. "68 per cent of residents believed that they had been threatened, harassed, lied to or pressured by the aforementioned organisation or its contractors."
The fire also injured dozens of people, 18 of them critically. The cause of the blaze is not known and under investigation, but a tenants’ group had complained for years about the risk of a fire. Investigators are still searching for victims and the families of those unaccounted for have been appealing on social media for information.
Witnesses described harrowing scenes as the building became an inferno with people, including children, jumping out of windows to escape the heat. Entire families may be missing.
The Grenfell Tower has 20 floors of apartments and 4 floors of mixed-used residential and office space. How many people were in the building during the fire has not been established. Up to 600 people lived in the building's 120 apartments.
Firefighters extinguished the last of the flames Thursday and the top floors of the building are still being searched, but London's fire commissioner Dany Cotton that due to the intensity of the heat it would be "an absolute miracle for anyone to be left alive." Around 200 firefighters respondent to the massive fire and Cotton said that some were traumatized. "We like to think of ourselves as ‘roughty, toughty’ and heroes —they are heroes — but they have feelings, and people were absolutely devastated." Britain's monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh also spoke about the firefighters on Thursday. "Prince Philip and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of firefighters and other emergency services officers who put their own lives at risk to save others," the queen said.
Theresa May says the community around the Grenfell Tower are right to demand answers. In a pooled interviewed she confirmed that she has ordered a full inquiry. “We need to ensure that this tragedy is fully investigated. People deserve answers. The inquiry will give them,” she said. She said she overwhelmed by the bravery of the firefighters when she visited the scene today. SURVIVORS of the tower block inferno stumbled over bodies as they desperately fought their way through black smoke to escape down the stairwell.
Dozens of residents at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London, are feared dead — weeks after a £10million refurbishment of the block that developers said was safe. Local residents warned of the potential fire risk in London's Grenfell Tower apartment block nearly 18 months before the complex was engulfed in a giant blaze, saying they feared people could be trapped inside if a fire broke out. Key points:
The Grenfell Action Group said it was worried people would be trapped if fire broke out in the tower block It's still not clear how many people were unable to get out as the fire took hold flat london UK England "London England" "west london" "london flat" "london home" "london apartment" "rent london" fire "fire fighter" family emergency "united kingdom" "health and safety" people window "home fire" "home insurance" 2017 experience community friends donate donation missing construction insulation work "construction work" building contract winter summer "summer 2017" "home insulation" boiler "fire exit" electric exit tower british The block was undergoing refurbishment which could have blocked exits Former chairman of the building's residents' association David Collins told the he and other residents had repeatedly pushed for an investigation into the "incompetent" tenant management organisation. "There were fire and security concerns. You look at the Grenfell Action Group (GAG) blog," he said on Wednesday. "We used to joke that it would take a tragedy before they would do anything." "At the end of 2015, beginning of 2016 we carried out a survey.
90 per cent of residents asked for an independent investigation into the tenant management organisation. "68 per cent of residents believed that they had been threatened, harassed, lied to or pressured by the aforementioned organisation or its contractors."
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