Yahoo News Neighbours voice demolition fears as police guard scene of Preston house explosion
Neighbours have voiced fears that at least one house will have to be demolished after a suspected gas explosion in Preston.
The male occupant of a house in Gillett Street was taken to the Royal Preston Hospital on the night of Saturday November 2 after the explosion tore through the property at around 10.20pm.
A number of neighbouring properties, including the house immediately next-door, were evacuated and fire crews from Preston, Bamber Bridge and Fulwood remained at the scene for several hours while engineers from Cadent Gas made the property safe and the occupant's dog was rescued.
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Police remain at the scene today, three days after the blast, to monitor the property which remains unsafe. The injured man remains in hospital and police have said that enquiries into the cause of the explosion are ongoing.
The affected property is situated at the end of a small row of terraced houses in an area surrounded by newer-build social housing. Although the damage is mainly concentrated at the rear of the house the front windows and doors have also been damaged.
One man who works at a nearby premises said he had heard that the next-door neighbour had been told he "won't be able to go back for some time".
"The damage is so extensive that it makes you wonder if they'll have to drop it," the man said. "You can't see them being able to rebuild that and that might be seen as the easier option considering it's an end-of-terrace."
One woman, who lives at the other end of the row of terraced houses, said that she hadn't been evacuated from her home. She added that she understands that the man lived on his own.
After the explosion neighbours described believing that "a bomb had gone off". One woman added: "We've had a lot of fireworks lately but I knew it was too loud for that. At first I didn't know where to look but then I saw all the smoke."
Anyone with any information about the explosion is asked to call police 101 quoting log 1500 of 2nd November 2024.
