Firefighters tackle blaze at house in Ilford following explosion

Two people were taken to hospital as 60 firefighters tackled a blaze following an explosion in a street in east London.

Footage on social media showed the moment of the blast at the terraced building in Ley Street, Ilford, which sent debris onto the road as vehicles, including a double decker bus, were nearby.

At the fire’s height, the first floor and loft conversion were fully alight and two people were taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service, the London Fire Brigade said.

The alarm over the fire, at the terraced house which had been converted into flats with a loft conversion, was raised at 4.09pm.

Station commander Darren McTernan is at the scene and he said: “Firefighters worked hard to bring this fire under control. Crews will remain on scene throughout the evening.

“Ley Street remains closed between Eastern Avenue and Vicarage Road, impacting traffic in the surrounding area, so please continue to avoid the area if you can.

“One of the brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders was used at the scene as a water tower to help fight the fire from above. The brigade’s drone team were also deployed to the incident, offering the incident commander an aerial view of the scene.”

Crews from Ilford, Dagenham, Barking and surrounding fire stations were sent to the scene.

The cause of the fire, which was brought under control by 6.23pm, is being investigated.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We sent resources including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic practitioner, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team (Hart).

“We treated three people. We took two to hospital and discharged a third at the scene.”