Explosion Hits Hammersmith Flat

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Man taken to hospital after blast on Aspen Gardens

Shortly before 11am this morning (28th March) there was a an explosion in a second floor flat in Aspen Gardens. A man believed to be in his eighties was taken to Charing Cross Hospital, but his condition is unknown at present.

The blaze was quickly brought under control by London Fire Brigade who arrived within 5 minutes.

The force of the blast threw the entire kitchen window frame onto the road below, covering the pavements and garages opposite with shards of glass. Miraculously the blast missed other occupants by minutes and no one below was caught in the blast.

Local resident were shocked by the incident. One local resident Claire Naismith who lives in one of the ground floor flats described how just minutes before the blast she had returned home with her friend and their small children directly in the path of where the window was blown.

She commented, "We had just got home from shopping and were in the kitchen when our walls shook. The noise was so load we knew something very bad had happened."

She then went on say how they had rushed outside to see black smoke pouring from the flat two floors above. They had retreated along with other residents to a safe distance and watched the fire brigade enter the flat through the exposed kitchen wall and open the front door from inside.

Four fire engines attended the incident as well as London Ambulance service and the police.

The frame of the kitchen window on the road below the fire

Stuart Webb

March 28, 2013