“This is an unprecedented situation, with a major fire that has affected all floors of this 24 storey building, from the second floor up.
Speaking from the scene of the Grenfell tower block fire in North Kensington London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said:
“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, with the first being received at 00.54am. The 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 taken a number of people 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.”