The Families who have been forced from their homes after the Greenfell Tower fire outbreak in Latimer Road West London have been offered shelter at the nearby Latymer Christian Centre and St Clements Church sites.
Actor and writer Tim Downie, who live near the scene, said:
“It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I just hope they have got everyone out. The first I knew was the noise of sirens, helicopters and shouting. I saw it engulfed in flames.”
“People have been bringing water, clothes, anything they’ve got to help, out to the cordon. I have seen people coming out in their bedclothes – it’s just very distressing.”
The London Fire commissioner Dany Cotton said in a statement that the fire affected most of the building and over 200 firefighters are doing the best that they can. A Call was placed to them at 00:54am this morning and the fire crew got there in six minutes but sadly there are still a whole lot of casualties with over 50 patients currently at the hospital:
He stated:
“This is an unprecedented situation, with a major fire that has affected all floors of this 24 storey building, from the second floor up.
Over 200 firefighters and officers are attending this incident, with 40 fire engines and a range of other specialist vehicles, including 14 fire rescue units in attendance.
Based on the level of resource that were needed at this fire we declared it a major incident in the early hours of this morning. London Fire Brigade’s Control room took multiple calls to this incident, with the first received at 00.54am.
First fire crews were on site in under six minutes. Crews wearing breathing apparatus have been working in extremely difficult conditions to rescue people and bring this major fire under control.
“London Ambulance Service have confirmed that currently 30 people have been taken to five hospitals.
At this time I am sad to confirm that we now know that there have been fatalities. I cannot confirm the number at this time and as you will appreciate with a fire of this size, affecting such a large building it would be unhelpful of me to speculate further.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage, and clearly we will be here all day and will be in a providing further updates, working with the police and ambulance service.”
Further information for the public will be made available shortly, including advice for those concerned about those they are worried about and the emergency services will be working with all agencies, including the local authority to support all of those affected by this incident.”
Witnesses reported seeing people being trapped in their homes. Images and videos have emerged of people looking out of windows in the tower.
There was an initial panic that the building could collapse but every speculation seems to have folded up.
A BBC reporter stated people are running around evacuation centres looking for missing residents from Greenfell Tower. A witness had told Sky News she saw people jumping out of the building from some of the lower floors, “desperately trying to save their lives”.
Neighbours were also standing outside the building, offering to catch people when they jumped.
