Major incident declared after gas explosion causes house collapse

A major incident has been declared in Nottinghamshire after a gas explosion caused a house to collapse.

There is still a "substantial emergency service presence" in place after the explosion in John Street, Worksop just after 7.30pm on Saturday.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) declared it a "major incident" and said "multiple houses in and around John Street have been evacuated".

Nearby Crown Place Community Centre has been opened as a "place of safety", the service said. Around 20 people have sought refuge there, with many "frustrated" at not being able to return to their homes, Sky News camera operator James Evans-Jones said from the scene.

Videos posted on social media showed the front of a terraced house blown out with the roof collapsed, while neighbouring houses had their windows damaged.

NFRS said in a statement late on Saturday: "This has now been declared a major incident, and we are likely to be on scene throughout the night and even into Sunday morning."

The fire service said it was called to the scene at 7.39pm.

"This is a gas explosion involving a house that has been significantly damaged," the service said in a previous statement.

One person posted on Facebook that they heard "a terrific bang, like a very loud firework" as they turned into Gladstone Street from Gateford Road.

"I thought the back end had blown off my car," they said. "A house in John Street has had, presumably, a gas explosion!"

NFRS said it was also called to a separate incident shortly afterwards but does not believe the two are connected.

Ten fire engines were sent to the scene of the industrial fire in nearby Holgate Road in The Meadows, Nottingham.

"The building has been severely damaged but there are no reports of any injuries," NFRS said.

Having been called to the incident at 8.11pm, NFRS said at around 10.30pm that it was scaling its response down with the flames "now under control".

NFRS's group manager Leigh Holmes said from the scene just after 11pm: "We will begin to relax the cordon in the next hour as we continue to scale down this incident."

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