Dog teams have been brought in to help with the search for more than 70 people still missing following the Grenfell Tower blaze.

The canines – who wear specially designed shoes – are trained to sniff out the remains of those who perished as well as explosive materials that could pose problems.

Officials say there are more than 70 people still missing after the fire ripped through the tower block just after 1 am on Wednesday morning.

This week London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: "This is a large building, there will be a large amount of building work required internally.

"Before we do that, we are going to utilise some specialist dog training teams that we have, that will go through the building and the surrounding area looking for any identification of people."

She said "a good half" of the building had yet to be searched in detail, adding: "It is the upper floors which will be more challenging and will need some additional shoring up for us to be able to get in there."

She added: "This will be a detailed fingertip search. Obviously, this will be a very slow and painstaking process."

The pups used because their sense of smell is better than that of any technology available.

They're also smaller and lighter than a person, meaning they're able to access parts of the badly damaged tower block that human workers cannot.

Apparently, the search dogs are chosen at a young age, and they live with their handlers when they're not out helping their respective fire services.

Yesterday, a London Fire Service spokesperson said: "Twenty firefighters and four fire engines, plus other specialist resources, have remained at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington throughout the night.

"Crews have remained at the scene to monitor the stability of the building's structure, managing the inner cordon and damping down any remaining pockets of fire.

"Throughout Friday, six fire engines and 35 firefighters and officers were at the scene working with the Metropolitan Police and other agencies.

"In addition, three Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) modules and 30 specialist USAR firefighters are working to make the block safe so our firefighters can continue to progress throughout the building, making a detailed search."

It's expected that the search will take weeks, but sadly, they are not looking for any survivors.

Their sense of smell is initially the most important feature of a specialist search dog. The dogs can even help to figure out whether or not a fire has been started deliberately. In their trained, they're taught how to identify a whole range of ignitable substances.

Dogs can also access parts of the tower that firefighters cannot. London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: "This is a large building, there will be a large amount of building work required internally.

"Before we do that, we are going to utilise some specialist dog training teams that we have, that will go through the building and the surrounding area looking for any identification of people.

"It is the upper floors which will be more challenging and will need some additional shoring up for us to be able to get in there.

"This will be a detailed fingertip search. Obviously, this will be a very slow and painstaking process."

There has been no report of any fire dogs ever being injured in the line of duty.