Brighouse building wrecked by fire and explosion

Jul 1 2009 By Joanne Douglas

“It was surreal looking out of your window and seeing a house on fire”

The emergency services received numerous calls from the public reporting a loud bang shortly after 2.30am.

Fire crews from Huddersfield, Brighouse, Cleckheaton and Elland raced to the scene initially fearing someone could be inside one of the flats.

Crew manager Steve Mosley from Brighouse fire station said: “Initially we thought there were people trapped inside.

“Fortunately there was no one inside. It has made a lot of mess and there was glass all over the road.”

Eight firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the burning building to search the property and tackle the blaze.

Police and United Utilities attended the scene while fire investigation crews were on the scene yesterday morning to determine the cause of the explosion and fire.

Watch manager Mick Pollard said: “The fire investigation team are doing the survey to find the cause of the fire.

“The scene inside is not good. The first floor has been heavily damaged by the fire and is burnt out.”

A spokeswoman for United Utilities added: “Emergency engineers were called to a report of an explosion at a block of four flats in Gooder Lane, Brighouse, at about 3am this morning.

“Emergency services were on site and we worked closely with them to make the area safe and as a precaution cut off the gas supply to the affected property.

“It is not yet clear what caused the explosion, initial checks on the gas mains and services in the street have revealed no problems and we have now left the site.”