Neighbours react to shocking Yate explosion - 'There was this huge bang and the house shook'

Yesterday morning, Avon Fire & Rescue Service was called to Lancaster Road, Yate, following reports of a gas explosion in a residential home.

The explosion led to a fire and the mid-terraced property was completely destroyed, and the two adjoining homes were damaged.

Three people were hospitalised with non-life threatening injuries and a forth person was treated by the ambulance service at the scene.

Neighbours on Piper Road saw an explosion taking place.

One said: "There was this huge bang and the house shook. You can see out of our top window and we have a viewpoint.

''We could see the smoke and then the flames coming up and you could see the flames reflected in the windows of the houses across the road.

''We couldn't smell it because I kept the windows shut but there was just this enormous bang."

One of the neighbours sat on the police van and waited for his son to bring his medication.

One woman said her 82-year-old mother had been evacuated but that she was in a stable condition at hospital with relatives.

She added that her dog was still inside the house and firefighters weren't sure if it was safe to be rescued.

Nearby residents were evacuated to the Farmhouse Pub, where they were served coffee, tea and toast.

Some were sitting in the garden, still in their dressing gowns and pyjamas.

One man had just returned home from work when he said "police came knocking".

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He said: "My mum was in the garden and saw it happen.

''She went round to help them and by the time she got back to our house after helping them out, police were there evacuating everyone.

"She doesn't know them. She saw water flying into the sky, flames going up, so she ran round the corner just to see what had happened.

"The door was locked and she tried passing the key through the letterbox so that they could open the door.

''I think the woman inside was actually scared as you would be and was trying to get the key in the door but was struggling to. I think the explosion happened then the flames came up five minutes after.

"Everyone's okay. They had minor injuries. They say we have to wait for a couple of hours until the gas turned off. I think it must have just been a slow build up or leak of gas over time."

Lorraine Carter, 57, a family and pupil support welfare officer, was also in the pub garden with friends after having been evacuated.

She said: "I was woken by a boom, a very loud noise. My house shook. I live about 100 yards from the house.

''It was like nothing I have heard before. It woke me up so initially you're not quite sure what it was but I hadn't experienced it before.

"I couldn't see anything initially either side of the house and then the first thing we saw was a thin plume of black smoke.

''We saw the neighbours running towards it and about 15 or 20 minutes later the fire engines and emergency services arrived.

"I was still in the house. We were evacuated at about 7.10am.

"I saw the police and I could hear neighbours being evacuated so I opened my window and they said we had to evacuate and come to the local pub.

"You hear about these things on the news but you don't expect it to happen on your street."

Another neighbour added: "The bang was terrific."

Geoff Shortman, a retired police officer, said: "I was fast asleep and boom. The windows shook, I looked out the window, saw nothing, went downstairs, a cup of coffee, looked out and thought: 'Why are all the neighbours out int he street?' At which point I saw the fire at the address. It had blown the roof off, basically.

"You could see 20, 40 ft flames coming out of the roof.

"I know the people affected. There was an initial shock amongst all of them and then they're all saying more or less the same thing: 'What the hell do we do now?' As far as we can ascertain we believe three houses have been damaged, possibly four.

"We all wandered out into the street and the police were trying to form a cordon with the fire brigade."