A huge fire has raged through the night at a west London tower block, with eyewitnesses claiming people were trapped inside.<\/p>\n
More than 200 firefighters are still tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, where hundreds of people are thought to live.<\/p>\n
London Ambulance said 30 people are receiving hospital treatment.<\/p>\n
The BBC\u2019s Andy Moore said the whole 24-storey block had been alight and there were fears the building might collapse.<\/p>\n
At 6.15 BST, London Ambulance Service said 20 ambulance crews had been at the scene, 30 people had been taken to hospital, but the nature and level of their injuries was not yet clear.Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said a \u201cmajor incident\u201d had been declared.<\/p>\n
At about 04:00 BST police said: \u201cResidents continue to be evacuated from the tower block.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eyewitnesses said they have seen lights \u2013 thought to be mobile phones or torches \u2013 flashing at the top of the block of flats.<\/p>\n
Others say residents \u2013 thought to be trapped inside \u2013 were seen coming to their windows.<\/p>\n
Simon Lederman said firefighters had not been able to tackle the flames on higher storeys.<\/p>\n
He said the tower could be seen burning \u201cfrom miles away\u201d, adding that the building had been \u201cburning out of control\u201d, from the tenth floor onwards.<\/p>\n
Andy Moore added: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen debris falling from the building, we\u2019ve heard explosions, we\u2019ve heard the sound of glass breaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police keep pushing back their cordons, pushing back members of the public for fear the building might collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span><\/figure>\n
London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly said firefighters were \u201cworking extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances.\u201d<\/p>\n
London Ambulance Service medics specially trained in life-saving medical care in hazardous environments have also been sent to the fire.<\/p>\n
The first reports of fire in the tower, in Latimer Road, on the Lancaster West Estate, came in at 00:54 BST.<\/p>\n
The A40 Westway was closed in both directions. London Underground said the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines have been closed between Edgware Road and Hammersmith.<\/p>\n\n
Safety concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n
According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the tower block contains 120 flats and is 24 storeys high.<\/p>\n
It is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) on behalf of the council and had undergone a two-year, \u00a310m refurbishment that was completed last year.<\/p>\n
The work included new exterior cladding and a communal heating system.<\/p>\n
The local Grenfell Action Group had claimed, before and during the refurbishment, the block constituted a fire risk and residents had warned that access to the site for emergency vehicles was \u201cseverely restricted\u201d.<\/p>\n
The BBC has been unable to contact the property\u2019s management company in the hours since the fire.<\/p>\n
One eyewitness, George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV programme Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live: \u201cI\u2019m getting covered in ash, that\u2019s how bad it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 100 metres away and I\u2019m absolutely covered in ash.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so heartbreaking, I\u2019ve seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can\u2019t get out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody Martin said he ran towards the building to try and help when he saw the fire.<\/p>\n
He said he was shouting at people to \u201cget out, get out\u201d but that residents were shouting back that they were stuck as corridors inside the building were filled with smoke.<\/p>\n
\u2018Building crumbling\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n
Tim Downie, another eyewitness, told the BBC part of the building was \u201ccompletely burned away\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has burned through to its very core,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks very bad, very very bad. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this. It\u2019s just such a big fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole building is just crumbling. It\u2019s just billowing black smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Safiyah, who is about 500m away from the building, said: \u201cThere are lots of people gathered in the street. I just see more and more flames burning and tragically I hear people crying for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire building is burning through.\u201d<\/p>\n
A huge fire has raged through the night at a west London tower block, with eyewitnesses claiming people were trapped inside. More than 200 firefighters are still tackling the blaze at Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, where hundreds of people are thought to live. London Ambulance said 30 people are receiving hospital treatment. The BBC\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-395607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Grenfell](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/_96481293_040046931-1.jpg\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n