Blast at house was result of '˜deliberate ignition'

The man was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after escaping from the blaze, which broke out in a fire on Cooks Gardens, Keyingham, in Holderness, just after 6pm last night.

His condition is thought to be serious. The man’s wife was with their children at his mother-in-law’s house when it happened.

Firefighters arrived to find dense smoke pouring from the front door - which had been blown out - first floor and through the roof. The back door had also been blown out.

The fire swept through the house leaving it gutted and it also spread to the next door property. Two pairs of semi-detached properties on either side have had to be evacuated for fear of collapse.

Residents said they had seen the man, who was at home alone at the time, “covered in black soot.”

A spokesman for Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said: “The most likely cause is deliberate ignition.

“Fire investigations officers and police have been down this morning and now it is all about the time-libe of events and working with other agencies about what has gone on.

“The man came out of the second floor window onto his own roof and then had to jump across to his neighbour’s roof and get into a window there.

“The staircase had disappeared totally so there was no means of escape.”

The spokesman said the next door house was uninhabitable and surveyors has said the two pairs of semis on either side were unsafe.

Both Station Road and Cooks Gardens remain closed today.