London (CNN) British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday announced a full public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster as grief turned to anger a day after the blaze that left at least 17 dead.

Speaking after visiting the site of the devastating fire in London's North Kensington area, May said she wanted to make sure "this terrible tragedy is properly investigated."

London's fire chief said there's little chance of finding any others alive in the charred remains of the tower. Dozens remain missing.

The Metropolitan Police have preliminarily identified six victims of the fire, Cmdr. Stuart Cundy said. He added that six bodies were recovered outside but they are not necessarily the victims who were identified.

Eleven bodies that have been spotted inside have not been recovered.

Investigators expect the death toll to rise, he said.

May's government was facing growing questions about why ministers did not act on recommendations following an earlier fire in London, which led to calls for sprinkler systems to be installed in residential blocks and for a full review of Britain's fire regulations.

David Lammy, a member of Parliament from the opposition Labour Party, said charges should be brought against those held responsible for the tragedy.

Latest developments

-- The final death toll is unknown; there's no number on the missing.

-- Residents who escaped were offered housing overnight.

-- The local council says it has enough donations for the survivors.

-- Thirty-seven are people in the hospital; 17 of them are critical.

-- The Prime Minister visited the site Thursday.

Fire still burns inside one of the flats in the Grenfell Tower.

Firefighters were still working to dampen the blaze and search for remains of the dead Thursday.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said she had "genuinely" no idea about how many people were still missing. She admitted it would be an "absolute miracle" if anyone else were still alive in the tower and that it would take weeks to complete a proper search.

Cotton said that urban search and rescue dogs would be deployed inside the building. While the core of the building was structurally sound, dogs were lighter and more agile than people, she said. Her staff will remain on the scene for days, and the search of the tower would be a "slow and painstaking process."

The blaze gutted rooms inside the high-rise building.

Cotton also said that parts of the building would have to be shored up to make it safe for rescue workers to reach each floor.

May praised the actions of the emergency services and the local community in coming together at such a difficult time.

She also sought to reassure residents who lost their homes that they would be rehoused in London and as close as possible to that area.

"We need to know what happened, we need to know an explanation," she said. "We owe that to the families, to the people who have lost loved ones and the homes in which they lived."

The rescue mission has turned into a search-and-recovery operaton.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in an earlier call for a public inquiry that an interim report should be produced by the summer.

"We can't afford to wait many years for these answers," he said during a Thursday evening news conference that became testy as local residents surrounded him, at times shouting expletives.

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to firefighters Thursday as she visits Grenfell Tower.

Anger

Lammy, the Labour lawmaker from London, called for arrests, describing the fire as "corporate manslaughter." Lammy told the BBC he had yet to hear from family friend Khadjia Saye, who lived in the tower. He called the fire "an outrage."

Grentfell Tower - It is totally unacceptable for this to happen in Britain in 2017, particularly in our richest borough. #r4today — David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 15, 2017

"We built buildings in the '70s. Those '70s buildings, many of them should be demolished. They haven't got easy fire escapes. They've got no sprinklers," Lammy told the BBC. "It's totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and people lose their lives in this way, and people should be held to account."

Questions remain over how the fire began and how it spread so quickly through the tower that was home to as many as 500 people.

Originally constructed in 1974, the residential tower block recently underwent a $13.2 million (£10.3 million) refurbishment carried out by private developers Rydon and completed last summer. The focus has turned to questions over the exterior cladding added as part of the refurbishment.

May consults with London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton, left, at the scene of the fire Thursday.

Many survivors said the fire spread quickly with little warning. Multiple residents told CNN they did not hear fire alarms when the blaze broke out.

Residents had complained about safety for several years.

In November, the Grenfell Action Group highlighted ongoing concerns among residents over the safety of the tower, managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation on behalf of the borough.

The group's blog post argued that only "a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord ... and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders."

The management company acknowledged residents' concerns in a statement: "It is too early to speculate what caused the fire and contributed to its spread. We will cooperate fully with all the relevant authorities in order to ascertain the cause of this tragedy. ... We are aware that concerns have been raised historically by residents. We always take all concerns seriously and these will form part of our forthcoming investigations."

Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Burning debris falls from Grenfell Tower as a massive fire engulfs the London apartment building early on June 14, 2017. Seventy-two people are confirmed to have died in the fire. Hide Caption 1 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Smoke rises from Grenfell Tower hours after the fire. Hide Caption 2 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block A woman cries as she tries to locate a missing relative. Hide Caption 3 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block A woman runs near paramedics working near the fire. Hide Caption 4 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Witnesses reported terrifying accounts of people trapped in the tower. Some people were reported to have jumped from the tower. Hide Caption 5 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block People watch as Grenfell Tower is engulfed by fire. Hide Caption 6 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Emergency service members work at the scene. Hide Caption 7 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Residents of nearby Whitchurch Road watch smoke streaming from the tower. Hide Caption 8 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Emergency personnel prepare in an open area near the blaze. Hide Caption 9 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block People watch as smoke rises from the tower. Hide Caption 10 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Michael Paramasivan and his daughter Thea Kavanagh managed to escape the fire. Hide Caption 11 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Police officers asked people to step back so they could expand the cordon and make more space for emergency services. Hide Caption 12 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Police stand near debris from the fire. Hide Caption 13 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block A security cordon holds people back as Grenfell Tower burns. Hide Caption 14 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Children wear masks that were distributed near the site of the fire. Hide Caption 15 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block The building, built in the 1970s, was home to 125 families. Hide Caption 16 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Emergency services respond to the fire. Hide Caption 17 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Firefighters battle the massive blaze. Hide Caption 18 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Smoke could be seen billowing over the heads of residents who gathered in nearby streets to watch the blaze. Hide Caption 19 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Residents from nearby Barandon Walk wait outside their building. The building was evacuated around 2 a.m. Police told residents that heat emanating from the fire could affect the structure of their building. Hide Caption 20 of 21 Photos: Fire engulfs West London apartment block Witness Michael Kyriakou told CNN the fire spread quickly, with one side of the building ablaze around 15 minutes after it started. "Within an hour it had engulfed the top part of the building," he said. "There are people in bathrobes and slippers all around us, so hopefully as many as possible got out." Hide Caption 21 of 21

Safety concerns

Ian Burgess, a professor of structural engineering at the University of Sheffield, told CNN that while fires do spread vertically up buildings, it's "generally quite a slow process."

"This was clearly a very rapid transmission of flame up the front of the building," he said.

JUST WATCHED Shock over how quickly flames engulfed building Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Shock over how quickly flames engulfed building 02:42

Mike Gilmartin, director of Omega Fire Engineering, said that to meet requirements, a building must have residential sprinklers and fire alarms in every apartment as well as other features such as a firefighting shaft.

Gilmartin said fire design has evolved over the years but it's not feasible to make all older buildings comply with the latest legislation. He added it's standard guidance that residents should stay in their apartments if a fire breaks out, as many of those in Grenfell Tower did.

A 2009 fire at a residential block in south London, Lakanal House, led to calls for sprinkler systems to be installed in similar buildings. The government repeatedly committed itself to reviewing fire standards in buildings but to date has not done so.

Community comes together

As the smoke continued to billow from the tower, locals worked hard Thursday to help those left homeless.

Messages of hope written on a poster near Grenfell Tower.

The local council received so many donations of food and supplies that by Thursday morning it said it did not need any more.

Piles of baby carriages, luggage, food supplies, toys and furniture could be seen stacked on the streets as mourners and well-wishers wrote messages of solidarity and hope on posters near the ruined tower.

Thanks for the donations of clothes, food etc. Our partners have been inundated with generous offers and have no more space at present. — RBKC (@RBKC) June 15, 2017

Dozens of hotel rooms, apartments and other rooms were donated to house the survivors.

On Wednesday evening, on a street in the tower's shadow, volunteers who had been working all day handed out cans of soda and bottles of water, and others spread food and plates out on a long red rug laid on the sidewalk.

Iftar laid out for volunteers #grenfelltower A post shared by Rrita (@rritr) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:24pm PDT

"Share the food with everyone," a marshal said as residents and volunteers sat cross-legged opposite each other and Muslim members of the neighborhood broke their Ramadan fast.

"The best thing about today has been seeing how generous people are," charity worker Zain Miah told CNN. "It doesn't matter what color skin we have, doesn't matter where we're from. ... Everyone is here to make sure the people who are affected, and who need help the most, have got that help."