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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Benjamin Roberts-Haslam

Heroic nurse ran to help after 'scary' blast in street

A newly-qualified nurse was the first at the scene when a woman's house was hit by a devastating fire.

Emergency services rushed to Oak Leigh in Tuebrook at around 9.30pm on Thursday, April, 6, after a reported explosion at a house. On arrival, it was found that the window on the first floor of a house had been "blown out". It was initially reported to be a gas explosion but Cadent Gas later confirmed this was not the case.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service revealed today (Friday) that the cause of the fire was combustible materials falling onto an electrical cooker.

READ MORE: First look inside former Beehive pub after major rebrand

One neighbour has now told of her heroic daughter's acts in the moments after the "bang" was heard. Lynn, who lives on the road, told the ECHO: "About 9.30pm we heard a big bang and thought it was a crash at first.

"We jumped up and I looked out of the window. My daughter ran over and moved some rubble off her (the resident of the house). I then came over and gave her a blanket. It was scary.

"When we walked her across the road there was another bang. There were two bangs in total. She didn't want to go inside so someone got her a chair, she was just worried about her cat."

Lynn's daughter, Jenny, was back at work this morning as a newly-qualified district mental health nurse despite helping her neighbour, who is believed to be in her 60s, during the ordeal. Describing her neighbour after the incident, she described her as "understandably shaking and shocked".

When the ECHO visited the scene on Friday (April 7) morning, rubble remained in the house's front yard and there were shards of glass in the street. Neighbours came out into the road to look at the damage and to speak to each other about last night's events.

One neighbour said the woman was more worried about the safety of her cat and wanted to run back inside, but was urged not to.

Gaynor Boyle, who lives further up the street, told the ECHO: "My whole house shook. At first, I thought it was fireworks.

"But there were two explosions. The first bang brought everyone out into the street and then the second one happened - after that everyone was shouting 'get away'.

"The scene was hard to describe, the house was on fire and there was just light coming from it.

"She was shaking, so I brought her some blankets. Another lady came out with a chair. It's the sort of street where everyone looks out for each other".

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