Brave residents have described their heroic actions and shock after an explosion destroyed a Middlesbrough home earlier today.
Kaayfee Hamaad, 48, from Berwick Hill was one of the first people at the scene at Kirkland Walk in Middlesbrough after a home was destroyed by an explosion before 1pm today (June 19).
Multiple emergency services including police, ambulance and fire service have cordoned off the scene and a man has been airlifted to hospital.
Kaayfee has now described how a cry for help prompted him to rush into the smoking home and rescue a man who was inside.
He told The Northern Echo: "I was driving to go to work and everyone was running. I was packing the van and saw the fire so I ran too.
"People were telling me not to go closer but I heard someone shouting for help. I ran inside, put a man on my shoulder and took him out.
"All of his skin and face was burnt. Everything was smoking - it was scary."
Nicola Hill, 46, and her daughter Rebekah Ashcroft, 20, live four doors down from the home and were the ones who called emergency services.
Nicola said: “The whole house shook you heard the bang and every window and door in the house shook. I saw the front of his house all over the floor at the front then there was a fire, but it was only starting to ignite where the loft would be at the time.
“I got wet towels and put them over him when he was out on the green. My daughter Rebekah called 999.”
Great-grandmother-of-two Susan Smith, 73, lives next door but her home is not attached - and has lived in the area for 43 years.
She told the Echo: “ I just heard this big bang I thought what’s that? Then I just saw all of the slates coming down.
“It was a shock. The whole house shook. I didn’t have a clue what it was.”
“The only way I can describe it is like something out of a war film. It feels like a movie in slow motion it didn’t feel real looking at it and seeing it.”
Nicola said the door of the property was laid under a car nearby and added that a man, who is understood to live in the home, was left with burns.
Other witnesses at the scene have described their horror at the explosion which has left debris strewn across the pavement and road.
Jodie Laycock, 26, said: "I would draw shook open and we looked out and there were tiles and then installation in the air. I thought somebody had crashed into my house."
Tanzyn Appleby, 21, added: "It was like a bomb had gone off."
Lynn Brown, 58, has lived in the area for 40 years. She has three kids and six grandkids, one of whom is a pupil at the nearby Park End Primary School.
She said: “The house shook and we flew outside to see what it happened. Do you know when there is like an earthquake?
“We saw all the debris flying over - all of the insulation that you get in the roof was in the sky.”
Her grandson, Rocco Shildrick, 10, is a pupil at Park End Primary school who texted parents to pick up their children earlier following the incident.
The school has been contacted for more information.
Rocco, who is in year 6, said: “I was eating chocolate cake and the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate.”
Great grandma Dorothy Harris , 61, said: “In all my days I’ve never seen anything like that.”
She has lived here for 31 years and described the horrifying scene.
She said: “It was horrendous. I was at the family shopper and the explosion hit me first. Then when I looked up it was all the debris in the air.
“I phoned the police, ambulance, and fire brigade. I was in a right state - I was still shaking 15 minutes later.”
Follow our live coverage of the incident this afternoon:
Other residents have been left outside the cordon and are unable to get back to their home.
Jane, 55, lives with her husband and her home is currently within the cordon. She hasn’t been told how long this will be closed off.
She said: “It was at about 12:30 pm when I came along. I just saw all the cars and all the police - it was a shock. You can see the back of his house has blown up – the full house has.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here