Two people were recovering in hospital today (23/11) after a huge gas explosion completely destroyed a house and shook nearby properties.
Residents in the street thought that a plane had crashed when the felt the explosion rip through the semi-detached £250,000 house at around 5.30pm on Sunday.
One of the victims was able to escape with minor injuries, but a man in his 50s was left trapped inside.
Ex-carpenter Vincent Green saw that one of the houses had been destroyed by the explosion and raced to free the man who was engulfed in flames from the blaze.
His mother Sybil from High Wycombe, Bucks,said: “There was just this amazing bang and my sons ran out in the road and saw a house had been blown up.
“We do not know what happened.
“All the neighbours ran out with torches and crowbars trying to do whatever they could to help.
“The woman wasn’t trapped and she managed to get out with her dog OK but the man was trapped.
“My son ran to help and found him through a hole in the rubble.
“He was on fire so he sprayed him with a fire extinguisher someone gave him and then used his bare hands to free him from the fire.”
Vincent had been visiting his mother with his older brother Martin, 50, and wife Satnam, 50, after going fishing.
The family were having a cup of tea on Sunday (22/11) when the explosion happened and rushed outside to help.
Sybil said Vincent’s brave actions are typical of him and he doesn’t want any praise for his helping save the man.
She said: “After everything happened he just came home and got on with everything like he always does. He’s so laid back and calm, just like his father.”
The man, in his 50s, was taken to taken John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with serious injuries. The woman was taken to the same hospital with minor injuries.
Sybil has spoken to the woman, believed to be called Lindsey, only a few days before the fire and said nothing like this has ever happened in the 29 years she’s lived in the road.
Five other houses on the road were evacuated due to the explosion.
The bravery of two quick thinking brothers helped save a burning man from the wreckage of his crumbling house.
Vincent and Martin Green rushed outside after feeling their mother’s house shake in a suspected gas explosion at around 5.30pm on Sunday.
When outside they saw that the explosion had ripped through one of their neighbours’ houses, leaving the roof on the ground floor.
The pair knew they needed to act quickly and while Martin, 50, phoned the emergency services, Vincent, 48, rushed into the semi-detached £250,000 house to rescue a man who was trapped under falling rubble.
Martin said: “My brother went first. By the time I had got out he was already in the house pulling the guy out of the rubble.
“I just started phoning the emergency services, it was my brother who went in and got him out.
“I didn’t even know anyone was in there. The building was completely collapsed and the roof was down to the ground floor.
“It wasn’t on fire at that moment. Vincent went in there and fond the guy down at the gable end of the house. His leg was on fire and someone from a local pub gave him a fire extinguisher to put him out before they pulled all the rubble off him and got him out.”
It is thought that the man named locally as John Durrant, suffered a broken back and facial injuries in the explosion.
The 52-year-old was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with serious injuries.
A woman, named locally as Linsey Houliston, wasn’t trapped in the fire and managed to escape the house with minor injuries.
The 51-year-old was taken to the same hospital.
The road was closed for several hours and reopened yesterday afternoon.
The fire service is investigating to find out what caused the explosion, which at this point is not known.
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