Belmont shaken by apocalyptic-blast

3,000 Stanmore residents were evacuated from their homes on Monday evening (3 Oct) when a large blast tore through Belmont Service Centre, leaving it engulfed by flames.

The explosion, in the storage yard of the centre in Kenton Lane, Stanmore, happened shortly after 6.30pm when a gas cylinder exploded. Many residents reported hearing a "loud bang" followed by a plume of smoke, which quickly dominated the Stanmore skyline.

Shopkeeper Zafar Hansraj, whose Drycleaners is just yards away, said: "We were closing around the time it happened and we saw the black smoke and heard the explosion. It was like a small firework display."

Within minutes three fire engines and emergency teams were at the scene tackling the blaze and a 250-metre exclusion zone was set-up around the Belmont Circle area over fears that a further 25 gas cylinders believed to be stored at the site could also explode. Among the stored cylinders were around five acetylene cylinders, which can be hazardous when exposed to heat. At around 7pm, police began the huge task of knocking on doors to evacuate residents who fell within the exclusion zone.

One evacuated resident, Mr Bhaghesh Shah, from Ventnor Avenue said "Police knocked on my door to say I had to leave. We took refuge in St Anselm's Church hall in Clifton Avenue amid fears of further explosions. The community policeman told me that around 600 homes had been evacuated and that the 3,000 residents were going to community centres across the borough."

Firefighters battled hard before finally getting the blaze under control at 11.30pm. Residents were allowed to return home at this time but fire crews remained on the site overnight as a precaution.

Turan Turan, Station Manager at Northolt Fire Station said "Fortunately the explosion was contained within the storage area.  The explosion and fire caused extensive damage, but fortunately no one was injured. Crews worked incredibly hard to prevent the fire from spreading and managed to cool down the other gas cylinders and in doing so, prevented further explosions."

Despite the explosion gutting the storage yard, destroying six cars and around 100 tyres, and damaging part of the car workshop, Service Centre Manager Kieran McIlroy said he was just glad that no one was injured in the blaze.

He said: "We all finished work around 5.30pm and obviously that was an hour before it happened, so none of the staff were here.  There would have been nothing worse than people getting hurt. Things are replaceable, but people are not."

Police have confirmed investigations are underway to discover the cause of the blaze.