6 dead in massive London high-rise fire; figure expected to rise

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And Katie Price was spotted arriving at the ITV studios in central London with her daughter Princess, nine, in tow, only to find out that Loose Women had been cancelled in the wake of the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in West London. They say 30 people have been taken to hospitals but it's not clear if people are still trapped. A plume of smoke stretched for miles (kilometers) over the capital.

The British celebrity chef, whose Jamie's Italian chain has a restaurant at the Westfield London shopping centre near the tower block, also shared his "thoughts, love and prayers" for those affected by the blaze. As the fire grew, 40 fire engines and over 200 fire fighters were called in to tackle the blaze.

Seventh-floor resident Paul Munakr told the BBC: "As I was going down the stairs, there were firefighters, truly awesome firefighters that were actually going upstairs, to the fire, trying to get as many people out the building as possible".

"These are very early stages and we do expect that figure to rise", London's Metropolitan Police said of the death toll.

He said he suspects the fire sprinkler system "was out of service or there was a malfunction at the time" based on how quickly the fire spread.

Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton called it an "unprecedented incident" unlike anything she had seen in her 29-year career as a firefighter. At St. Clement's Church, where evacuees from neighboring buildings gathered, Hadra Hassad was trying to find one of her closest friends, who lived on the 21st floor.

The Grenfell Tower building, situated in Kensington in West London, is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

6 killed, 74 injured as huge fire engulfs residential tower in London
Cotton told reporters she'd never seen anything like the fire in her almost 30 years as a firefighter. One of his daughters was hospitalized.

"It's so heartbreaking, I've seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can't get out". One resident said the fire alarm did not go off.

London's Fire Brigade says that a structural engineer and urban search and rescue crews have assessed the stability of the burning tower block in west London and believe it is not in danger of collapsing.

Ambulances and fire trucks filled the streets around the building, which is located in a diverse, working class area of London.

A woman showed up in tears looking for her sister, who lived in the 24-story building that caught fire. Daffarn said residents had complained for years to London City Council about building safety, to no avail.

The Grand Tour presenter Jeremy Clarkson took to Twitter to urge those living nearby to help Grenfell Tower residents. He said he heard sirens, helicopters and shouting and then saw the building engulfed in flames.

"Crews wearing breathing apparatus and extended duration breathing apparatus have been working in extremely challenging and hard conditions to rescue people and bring this major fire under control", Cotton said.

George Clarke, the presenter of "Amazing Spaces", told Radio 5 Live he was covered in ash even though he was 100 meters (yards) from the scene. But knee-jerk reactions today have already included politically opportunistic finger-pointing at Theresa May's new chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, who was a housing minister for just 12 months until last Thursday: this very serious charge seems incredibly premature to me.

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