Cornhill: Fire crews battle blaze after van 'exploded' into ball of flames in the City

Hannah Al-Othman5 April 2016

A van dramatically "exploded" into a ball of flames in the heart of the City of London today.

The white van caught fire in Cornhill just after 11am this morning.

Firefighters rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control within about 20 minutes.

Office workers described hearing a loud bang, before large plumes of black smoke started billowing from the burning vehicle.

Explosion: firefighters brought the blaze under control 
Stephen Askins

Lawyer Stephen Askins tweeted: "All kicking off with van fire proceeded by very loud bang which gave everyone on Cornhill a serious shock."

He told the Standard: "There was a loud bang more like a car crash than a bomb - and I know the difference - and smoke immediately billowed into the street.

"I didn't see it because we are literally around the corner. Those who were there said it was enough to cause some to run and scream which was understandable.

"Only half the street was cordoned off and traffic flowed normally along Gracechurch Street and although there was some nervousness people fed off the police and fire brigade reaction, which was calm and measured.

The scene of the fire in Cornhill
Satinder Singh Sohel

"It has to be said that they got there incredibly quickly."

Cat Williams added on Twitter: "Bit of a shock when this van exploded outside our office!! #cornhillfire".

The aftermath of the blaze (Dom Graham )
Dom Graham

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said nobody was injured during the incident, and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

City of London police said Cornhill was closed westbound in the aftermath of the fire.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in