Gas Explosion Rocks West London

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Residents have lucky escape as gas main blows

A large gas explosion has badly damaged flats in Macbeth Street in Hammersmith on Thursday morning.

Six fire engines and 30 firemen converged on the scene around 11.20am on Thursday morning (13th August) as people living as far away as Chiswick reported a loud bang and seeing clouds of smoke rising from the building.

Eye witnesses reported that the explosion appeared to have blown out the front and rear of two or three flats and that there were bits of building, glass, wood and furnishings strewn around outside.

The fire services say they believe the cause was a ruptured gas main.

"We believe about 100 people left the building before the fire brigade arrived," a spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said. "The flat is very badly damaged."

The fire was brought under control at 12.32 p.m, and a spokesperson for the Fire Brigade said: "We have had no reports of any casualties. It was a fairly large gas explosion, and it's just fortunate that nobody seems to have been hurt."

London Ambulance Service have confirmed that no one was hurt. "We were called just after 11.20am this morning and had a three man ambulance crew and a Hazardous Area Response Team on standby at the scene, but fortunately no one was hurt and their services weren't requried," says a spokesperson.

August 14, 2009