Explosion damages house in south-west London

One man left the building in Battersea before firefighters arrived and was checked over at the scene by paramedics.
Emergency services at the scene on Elsley Road in Battersea, south west London, following a house explosion. Picture date: Thursday August 10, 2023.
PA Wire
Lucas Cumiskey10 August 2023

Firefighters are at the scene of an explosion at a house in south-west London that caused a roof to partially collapse.

The blast damaged the end-of-terrace house in Elsley Road, Battersea, on Thursday, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.

One man left the building before firefighters arrived and was checked over at the scene by paramedics.

A 25-metre cordon is in place and affected properties were evacuated, the LFB added.

A spokesperson for gas company Cadent said the explosion was “not gas-related” after the LFB earlier said it suspected it was.

Firefighters were called at 1.47pm and crews from Chelsea, Wandsworth, Brixton and Clapham fire stations went to the scene.

Photos from just outside the cordon show bricks, glass and other debris strewn on the pavement and road.

The cause is not known at this time, the LFB said.

A Cadent spokesperson said its engineers were called to the blast scene, adding: “We have tested our gas network and it is sound and no gas escaped.

“We have been advised by the emergency services on site this is not gas-related.

“However, we may cut off the gas supply to this one property for safety reasons and because the building is not structurally sound.

“Our engineers will be leaving the site once this work is complete.

“It is now up to the fire and rescue service to investigate the cause of this incident.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in