An Ipswich man today spoke of his relief that none of his family were hurt when a blaze engulfed an upstairs bedroom in his nan’s home, while his young cousins played downstairs.
The drama unfolded shortly before 7pm on Monday in Oxford Road, near Suffolk New College and two firefighters from the town’s Princes Street station were sent to the scene.
People living in the area have described hearing a loud bang and then seeing flames and smoke billowing from the top floor of the property.
Rahim Rashid, 20, was outside the property, where his nan and uncle live, at the moment the incident happened.
He has praised the work of the firefighters who were on the scene within minutes.
He said: “The first I knew of it was when the fire alarm went off.
“(My cousins) are normally playing in that room but luckily they were playing downstairs when it happened. We are very lucky.
“They (firefighters) have done a good job, they did all they needed to do and they kept us updated every dew minutes so we weren’t worried about what was going on.”
Nobody was seriously injured in the incident and a fire investigation is taking place to determine what caused the blaze.
Mr Rashid said the origin of the fire is a mystery to him and his family as it is believed to have started in or near a wardrobe where there are no electrical sockets nearby.
One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, described the moment the incident happened.
They said: “My housemate and I heard a bang, what sounded like an explosion, followed by children screaming.
“We looked outside and could see smoke coming out from a bedroom window.
“The fire engines were there within minutes.
“We could see that nobody was hurt just that the family were in shock and that the children were quite upset.”
Firefighters on the scene wore breathing apparatus and used one hose reel to bring the fire under control.
The fire was extinguished shortly before 7.30pm.
A spokesman for Suffolk police said the force had not been made aware of the incident.
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