Fire engulfs Grenfell tower block in west London

The fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate was reported at 01:16 BST and about 200 firefighters are tackling the blaze.

The Met Police said people were being treated for "a range of injuries".

The BBC's Andy Moore said the whole tower block was alight and there are fears the building might collapse.

London Fire Brigade sent 40 fire engines to the tower.

Eyewitnesses said they could see lights - thought to be torches - flashing at the top of the block of flats, which people say is "close to burning through".

At about 04:00 police said: "Residents continue to be evacuated from the tower block."

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crackersa said:

My fear of high rises. Above a certain floor and you are fecked. No ladder can reach you.

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KCTMO – Playing with fire!
It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders. We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.

It is our conviction that a serious fire in a tower block or similar high density residential property is the most likely reason that those who wield power at the KCTMO will be found out and brought to justice! The Grenfell Action Group believe that the KCTMO narrowly averted a major fire disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2013 when residents experienced a period of terrifying power surges that were subsequently found to have been caused by faulty wiring. We believe that our attempts to highlight the seriousness of this event were covered up by the KCTMO with the help of the RBKC Scrutiny Committee who refused to investigate the legitimate concerns of tenants and leaseholders.

We have blogged many times on the subject of fire safety at Grenfell Tower and we believe that these investigations will become part of damning evidence of the poor safety record of the KCTMO should a fire affect any other of their properties and cause the loss of life that we are predicting:

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crackersa said:

My fear of high rises. Above a certain floor and you are fecked. No ladder can reach you.

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Pitbull said:

I can never understand how a fire spreads through multiple floors so quickly. I mean if a floor is on fire evacuate. It obviously started somewhere, why let it burn till it reaches a point where it can not be stopped. This obviously takes time for a fire to spread 20+ floors...

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Pitbull said:

I can never understand how a fire spreads through multiple floors so quickly. I mean if a floor is on fire evacuate. It obviously started somewhere, why let it burn till it reaches a point where it can not be stopped. This obviously takes time for a fire to spread 20+ floors...

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Pitbull said:

I can never understand how a fire spreads through multiple floors so quickly. I mean if a floor is on fire evacuate. It obviously started somewhere, why let it burn till it reaches a point where it can not be stopped. This obviously takes time for a fire to spread 20+ floors...

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wabbit16 said:

Apparently (heard on the local radio) it started in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep. I suspect shoddy wiring and you will be amazed at how fast a fire can spread once it has enough oxygen and flammable material

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Pitbull said:

I'll be the first to go on record thinking this was a terror attack of sorts. I just have a feeling. Will be ready to apologise if that is not the case.

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