Firefighters worked through the night at London highrise
June 15, 2017  14:52
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The London Fire Brigade posts this on its website:

"Crews remained at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire in north Kensington throughout the night. Firefighters worked with the gas authority to isolate a ruptured gas main in the block and once this work was completed they were able to extinguish the fire with the help of a 40 metre aerial appliance brought in to assist from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire was under control by 01:14. In addition to firefighting operations our crews continued to work with the local authority to reassure concerned residents from neighbouring blocks in the area and to offer them home fire safety advice.

Firefighters will be at the scene throughout today, with around 60 firefighters and eight fire engines and other specialist resources still in attendance. Our Urban Search and Rescue teams will also be working with local authority contractors to shore up the building to make it safe to continue with the next phase of the operation.

The Brigade received the first of multiple calls to the incident at 0054 on Wednesday morning. The fire affected all floors of the 24 storey building, from the second floor up, and at its height 40 fire engines and more than 200 firefighters were at the scene. Sadly police have confirmed there have been 12 fatalities and say they expect that figure to rise further. In addition, fire crews rescued 65 people from the building.

London Ambulance Service have confirmed 68 people have been taken to six hospitals and a further 10 people have self presented."


Image: The burnt facade of the Grenfell Tower building. The picture was tweeted by the London Fire Brigade.
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