‘We are lucky we didn’t lose our Walthamstow house – flames were higher than homes on our street’

More than 30 gardens and a railway embankment were affected in the blaze, with a home destroyed

An ‘inferno’ in Walthamstow badly damaged more than 30 gardens and destroyed one home with residents returning to their neighbourhood to find a ‘warzone’. The London Fire Brigade sent 125 firefighters in 25 fire engines to the huge fire in Vallentin Road at 6.27pm on Sunday, July 12.

Several streets were cordoned off, and neighbours on Vallentin Road, Wood Street and Shernall Street were all evacuated until the fire was brought under control some four hours later. The Weaver Line of the London Overground has been partially suspended since the fire, and is likely to remain closed until Thursday, July 16, for urgent repairs after the incident severely damaged a section of the railway embankment, according to TFL.

While the fire service brought the blaze under control by 10.35pm, residents returned home to find utter destruction in their back gardens and homes. Amy McCallum was sitting at home with her partner and child when she heard bangs, saw smoke rising, and a blaze speeding towards her home.

She said: “We heard three big bangs, and we looked at the back of the house, and we saw all the smoke. It was an inferno, it was all up in flames in about two minutes, and the police came very quickly. Our neighbour called it in as they watched it all happen.

“It was very frightening, I mean, just how quickly it happened. We stayed with family, but now we have been told that we should keep all our windows and doors closed before the fire brigade tells us it’s okay again.”

More than 30 properties were impacted by the fire, and while many have returned to their homes to assess the damage, several of the nearby streets remain taped off – with one home, in Shernhall Street, completely destroyed.

John Neddy wasn’t at his home of 40 years at the time of the incident, however, when he returned, he found his front door had been caved in by the fire brigade to get to the blaze, and while his house wasn’t badly affected, the bottom of the 68-year-old’s garden had been devastated.

“The decking has gone. I was worried about losing the house, with the wind yesterday, we were lucky it didn’t,” he told MyLondon. “I had a wooden cabin there, and that’s just all gone; our insurance has just lapsed as well.

“We were keeping all the kids writing, drawing and things from school in there in plastic boxes. It’s one of those things, we are lucky no one has been killed, someone has lost their house so. A few of my neighbours have lost their cabins, which they just finished, I think it cost them over £50,000.”

Ian Phillips returned home to a “warzone”. When he reached the street neighbouring his property, he could see flames over the tops of the terraced houses on Vallentin Road with the street littered with emergency services. He said: “It was like a warzone here, the police were everywhere, this was about 10pm, there was still smoke everywhere.”

While Ian’s home wasn’t affected in the blaze, he told MyLondon how his friends on the street had been devastated at the damage it had caused to their homes. “I’m just glad no one has been hurt, some of the people are distraught and very shaken up still,” Ian added.

Stephen Pietrzykowski was away from his home watching Wimbledon when he saw messages of panic flooding into his road’s WhatsApp group, yet when he returned home, he found his street cordoned off and little information about when the blaze would be put out.

He said: “I wasn’t at home at the time, returning home to discover that the top of the street had been cordoned off. At that point, we couldn’t get anywhere down the street or access the property. The flames were higher than the houses.

“The fire brigade did manage to deal with it while we were still there, but we left the area immediately due to the toxicity in the air. We returned this morning to see the damage, it was concerning not to know what was going on. It’s not a pleasant sight at the back, but we are lucky, it’s quite remarkable really that it didn’t spread further.”

While residents recoup what they can from the remains, officials are working to determine a cause for the ‘inferno’, as well as the urgent work underway to get the overground Weaver Line functioning once again.

A cause is expected to be released after the investigation concludes.

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