HOUSEHOLDERS were startled by ‘loud bangs and explosions’ and told to leave their homes when a fire broke out in a home on a quiet residential street.
Firefighters were called to Ticknell Piece Road in Chalbury, at about 8pm, on Saturday evening.

A nearby resident, Steve Jones, said the blaze had damaged the electricity supply and ignited a nearby tree. The incident affected power supplies to nearby homes.

He said: “There were a lot of loud bangs and cracking with sparks flying and bits of tree burning.

“The firefighters informed me that it was a fire involving the mains gas, however, it seemed that it had affected the mains electricity too.
“My house and at least one other had trips on residual current devices.”
Mr Jones said the fire had taken hold outside the property against a garage wall, which he said looked ‘fairly well scorched’.However, he confirmed that nobody had been in any danger nor did any buildings catch fire.

Mr Jones continued: “The power was cut off for some of the properties in Ticknell Piece Road in order to allow the emergency workers to deal with the situation safely.
“It was quite localised, but unfortunately my house was one of those affected.”
“My suspicion is that there had been some localised damage to the electrical system which had to be made safe.”

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A neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said the fire had started in a bins outside the property.
Chalbury resident John Partington said several houses, including his, were evacuated with people told to stand in the street just after 9pm.
They remained for more than two hours.
He said: “Emergency services turned the power off to cut the gas pipe safely.
Oxfordshire County Council was contacted for more information about the incident.