Video footage has captured the moment a van 'exploded' and burst into roaring flames in the middle of a quiet street. The fire, in Wigan, then spread to a parked car and even the outside of a house on Seascale Crescent - with one terrified woman fearing her husband was trapped inside.
Fire crews raced to the scene on Monday afternoon (October 17) at around 4.30pm, where the road was temporarily closed off as the flames were dampened. Footage shows the huge blaze engulfing the white van and also spreading to a small red car that was parked up along the pavement beside it, as clouds of black smoke escape and billow overhead.
There were numerous posts from concerned residents shared to social media, with one saying there had been a 'van explosion'. Ellie Juckes, who lives on the quiet street, said she did not know that the van, which is used by her husband for work, was being returned from the garage and feared that he had become trapped inside.
Ellie said the van had been 'smoking really bad' moments before bursting into flames. She told the M.E.N: "It seemed to go from smoking really bad to just bursting into flames so quickly. It was parked with the engine running outside our house, right next to our car on our drive and all our neighbours cars.
"It was pretty horrendous to be honest. I thought it was just my husband coming home from work and had no idea it was being delivered back to us. I thought my husband was in it as he wasn’t answering his phone and I couldn’t see him anywhere in the street.
"I didn’t know that (he wasn't inside) until after the fire brigade had come and put the fire out. That’s when my husband came round the corner, he had been down the road at his garage when it was happening.
"As the firemen pointed out, there’s a gas pipe on the external gable end of the house next to where the van was. If that had gone it would have been a whole different story.
"We were all stuck in the end of (Seascale Crescent) behind the van as the smoke was billowing down like a wind tunnel. We couldn’t see through it it was so thick and black. At one point we thought our houses had started to blaze as well because we couldn’t see anything."
Shocking pictures taken after the fire show the extent of the damage, with the van visibly blackened and the front bonnet of the small car also burnt beyond repair. There were no serious injuries reported.
A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “At around 4.30pm on Monday 17 October, firefighters were called out to Holme Terrace where a van and a car were both on fire.
“One fire engine, from Wigan Fire Station, quickly attended the scene, where the fire had also spread to the outside of a nearby house. Crews used a hose reel and breathing apparatus to extinguish the fires and were detained for around ten minutes.”
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