Massive fire engulfs apartment building in West London

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London Fire Brigade confirms that 200 firefighters have been deployed to tackle the blaze as rescue workers try to evacuate the building located in Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington.

Cotton said a number of people died in the fire, but she couldn't yet confirm how many because of the size and complexity of the building.

"This is an unprecedented incident", Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters. "In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale".

There is no word on how many people are still inside but officials have confirmed there are "a number of fatalities".

Work was completed last summer, with Nick Paget-Brown, the leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, visiting the site in May.

The residents of Grenfell Tower had raised fire safety concerns four years prior to the tower block fire. At least 50 injured people were taken to hospital - many were still missing after residents were left trapped on upper floors as flames spread rapidly up the building.

The blaze appears to be the worst in London since a 2009 fire in the city's south killed six people, including three children. At least six people have died from the fire, which was not yet fully under control almost 12 hours after it started.

Local resident Tamara told BBC News: "Around 12.30/1am my mum called me and said there was a fire outside".

"All our warnings fell on deaf ear and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time", wrote the group in a post on their website.

Scenes From the Massive West London High-Rise Fire
As the horrifying news broke over night, local residents reported the sound of people trapped in the building screaming for help. Police have turned a church near the scene of a massive west London high-rise fire into a makeshift centre for evacuees.

"Literally within five minutes of seeing that, that side of the building became engulfed in flames".

Almost nine million pounds was recently spent redeveloping a Kensington tower block engulfed by fire overnight.

One person, who did not want to be identified, told the British newspaper The Guardian, "I'm lucky to be alive - and lots of people have not got out of the building".

Hanan Wahabi, 39, who lives on the ninth floor of the 27-storey Grenfell Tower, said she was awoken around 1:00am (0000 GMT) by smoke. "A neighbor's smoke alarm went off and another neighbor phoned and told me to get out", he said.

Another witness said a family friend was "stuck on the eighth floor with her 5-year-old daughter" until 5 a.m., nearly four hours after the fire broke out.

Following the incident, GAG said that it posted numerous warnings about the very poor fire safety standards at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere in neighborhood.

Eyewitnesses described people trapped in the burning tower screaming for help and yelling for their children to be saved, BBC reported.

"We are shocked to hear of the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower and our immediate thoughts are with those that have been affected by the incident, their families, relatives and friends".

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