Major incident declared after gas explosion causes house collapse in Nottinghamshire

12 April 2025, 19:45 | Updated: 13 April 2025, 11:53

A major incident has been declared in Nottinghamshire after a gas explosion caused a house to collapse.

There is still a "substantial emergency service presence" in place following the explosion in John Street, Worksop, which happened just after 7.30pm on Saturday.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) said "multiple houses" in and around the street had been evacuated.

Officials have not released details of any injuries.

According to Nottinghamshire Police, the property was "partially destroyed" in the blast, with others also suffering damage.

Nearby Crown Place Community Centre has been opened as a "place of safety", the service said. Around 20 people have sought refuge there, with many "frustrated" at not being able to return to their homes, Sky News camera operator James Evans-Jones said from the scene.

Videos posted on social media showed the front of a terraced house blown out and the roof collapsed, while neighbouring houses suffered damage to windows.

"This has now been declared a major incident, and we are likely to be on scene throughout the night and even into Sunday morning," NFRS said in a statement late on Saturday.

The fire service said it was called to the scene at 7.39pm, with crews from Warsop, Worksop and Mansfield, and Clowne in Derbyshire, attending.

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In an update posted at 6.30am on Sunday, NFRS said three fire engines were still at the scene, working alongside specialist urban search and rescue teams "to account for all local residents".

The area should still be avoided, the service said.

Nottinghamshire Police's Chief Inspector Neil Humphris said multiple properties had been evacuated and emergency services were working to "understand how it happened".

One person posted on Facebook that they heard "a terrific bang, like a very loud firework" as they turned into Gladstone Street from Gateford Road.

"I thought the back end had blown off my car," they said. "A house in John Street has had, presumably, a gas explosion!"

Emergency services deal with separate fire

NFRS said it was also called to a separate incident about 30 miles away shortly afterwards, but does not believe the two are connected.

Ten fire engines were sent to the scene of the industrial fire in nearby Holgate Road in The Meadows, Nottingham.

"The building has been severely damaged but there are no reports of any injuries," NFRS said.

Having been called to the incident at 8.11pm, NFRS said at around 10.30pm that it was scaling its response down, with the flames "now under control".

NFRS's group manager Leigh Holmes said from the scene just after 11pm: "We will begin to relax the cordon in the next hour as we continue to scale down this incident."

(c) Sky News 2025: Major incident declared after gas explosion causes house collapse in Nottinghamshire