The terrified residents of Grenfell Tower banged on their windows, shouted for help, and even tossed children out of the window in an attempt to escape the London apartment inferno that has been all over the news since yesterday. According to officials, the current death toll for the apartment fire is 12, but it is expected to rise. AP News reporters covered the initial story that was picked up across mainstream media.
Wednesday blaze
It was early on Wednesday of this week when a 24-story apartment building located in the North Kensington district caught fire.
It has been reported that 74 are injured, 18 are critically injured, and an unknown number of people are still missing. It has also been learned that a group of tenants had complained about a risk of the apartment building catching fire for years.
Manpower
There were over 200 firefighters who worked all night long to battle this massive five. A day later, the firefighters were still putting out pockets of fire. The London skyline is still plagued with a cloud of smoke. Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton has been a firefighter for nearly three decades, but he has never seen a fire anything like this one.
The people
There were 120 apartments in the 24-story building that served as home to as many as 600 people.
While the death toll is currently at 12 people, the local officials – sadly – are fairly certain the number is going to increase. The 200 firefighters were able to rescue 65 people from the blaze.
Naturally, this has caused a lot of concern about whether or not the other apartment blocks in and around the district are safe.
Could other apartment buildings also be a fire hazard?
It was at 12:54 a.m. when the first reports of the fire came in. It took the very first fire trucks approximately six minutes to get to the scene. Initially, some feared the building fire in London was an act of terrorism. However, authorities have suggested the fire does not involve any sort of terrorism.
There are several terrifying stories of people on the ground who watched as parents tossed their children from the windows, desperate to try to save their lives. A woman dropped her infant, who was caught by a gentleman on the ground. Some recall children being dropped from the fifth or sixth floor as well as the 15th floor. With the exception of the infant being caught, there haven't been any details regarding the fate of the other children who were dropped.
It was even discovered that some of the smoke alarms on the higher floors were not functioning. Residents claim to have reported this problem for years, but nothing was ever done to resolve the issue. Is this a tragedy that could have been prevented?
