VIDEO: Explosion fear leads to evacuation after Newington Green fire
Residents were evacuated from their homes on Saturday due to fears of an explosion as fire ravaged a nearby warehouse.
Six people were forced from the properties after the blaze in Green Lanes, near the junction with Leaconfield Road, Highbury, when potentially explosive gas cylinders were found in the building.
Propane tanks can detonate if exposed to heat and residents were moved out as a precaution, before the cylinders were cooled and removed.
It took 20 firefighters more than three hours to get the fire under control, by which time the warehouse was completely destroyed.
They were called just before 9am and crews from Islington, Holloway and Stoke Newington stations had the flames out shortly after midday.
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Kneale Chapman, 32, who lives nearby, said: “We thought they were going to evacuate us, but we just about got away with it. We were keeping a close eye on the fire incase it started getting too near the house.”
“The sound of the hoses woke us up rather than the sirens - it sounded like they were spraying my window. It was a bit of a shock on Saturday morning.”
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The cause of the fire is under investigation.
