Bristol explosion: Family living next to gas blast house homeless as home set to be demolished

Daily Mirror

02-05-2025

Onlookers said it was a "miracle" no one was killed when a property in Yate, Gloucestershire was blown to pieces after a suspected gas explosion which has left other residents homeless
A family is going to be left homeless after a neighbouring property blew up in a suspected gas explosion - and insurers plan to demolish their home. Rich Cainey, 35, a repair worker for Airbus, lived next to the site of the blast in Yate, Gloucestershire with his parents Rob and Deb, both 60 years old. On Tuesday, four people were left with injuries after the explosion, with witnesses saying it was a "miracle" that on one died.
But neighbours have other concerns after insurers said that his and other properties on the row will need to be demolished due to damage sustained. Rich said: "We're staying with our family in Yate. The insurance company is trying to sort out long-term, temporary accommodation for us until it's all been sorted, but that'll be a couple of weeks yet.
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"They're planning on knocking the houses down. All my possessions are stuck in the loft - all my memories, like it's my whole life which is in there. I can't get anything out because getting up the stairs is completely out of the question. My mum wants to get in and salvage some stuff.
"She's got photos and memories downstairs all the way from her childhood until now. But there's no point in risking it until you know if you can go safely.
"I'm lucky, a lot of my photos are on a cloud linked to my iPhone, but my mum has wedding photographs she's desperate to save, as well as all of my grandmother's memories too. It's just a shame.
"I'm in borrowed clothes now, but at the end of the day the material stuff comes and goes, it's just the things we probably will never be able to get back. But the main point is that everyone's safe - that's obviously the most important thing."
Katie Winter, 36, a civil servant who lives opposite the row of houses, said she helped rescue the elderly resident in the home.
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"There was a huge bang when it happened, like a skip being dropped from the truck" she said. "I ran outside and went and knocked on the houses down the other end as soon as I heard it to make sure everyone had got out.
"I broke the window pane and two people went in and went upstairs to get her and they carried her down.
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"The pane was already broken anyway so it just needed a bit more room to get someone in, and one of the two lads was wearing a suit, as he was getting ready for work, but just climbed in anyway to get her out.
"She's 82 and I think she's been a little bit injured because part of the wall had come through onto her.
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"I believe she's the only one in hospital now as she's got a couple of broken ribs and a head injury."
Emergency services were called to the explosion at a property on Lancaster Road in at 7am.
Around 40 people were evacuated but most were allowed to return later in the day.
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A spokesperson from South Gloucestershire Council said it would be a decision for insurance loss adjusters.
Rich added: "It happened at about 6:50 in the morning. I was launched out of my bed with a massive explosion because I slept next to the supporting wall in the house.
"I ran downstairs and I could hear screams from inside the next door neighbour's house so I went outside and that's when I saw the destruction.
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"I'm still in disbelief. I thought it was an earthquake initially because the whole house started shaking.
"Everything was falling off all the walls, and I was looking down and there was a massive hole just there.
"Our front door is still open now because they're worried if the front door is shut, the force of that - as minor as it could be - could send that wall down. It's crazy.
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"The building assessors are coming around to see what, if anything, can get saved. But that would just be the end two houses who might be able to get things out.
"But our possessions, we don't know yet, we're still waiting.
"I think all five of the houses are probably going to be knocked down, which is so sad.
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"For us, it's 35 years of history of our lives and memories just gone. The whole street have been here such a long time.
"Bev and John, who live there on the right, they've been there 39 years, then there's Jane and Paul who've been there for 36 or 37 years.
"Mandy and Dave, are right on the end, they've been living there nearly 40 years as well.
"It's only really Margaret who's moved in recently, she's been here for the last three or four years, but everyone's majority of us have been here like, our whole lives. It's so sad."