Lucky escape as kitchen hit by blast
A home owner says he escaped death by seconds after walking out of his kitchen just before an explosion sent a shed door flying through the window.
Petrol fumes are thought to have ignited, causing a blast which destroyed a brick shed in Brownhills sending debris into flats. The door and large pieces of wood went through the kitchen window of one maisonette in Marklew Close, with the family claiming if anyone had been in the room they would have been killed.
Other debris flew over the roof of the block of Walsall Housing Group flats, landing in the garden, while roof tiles and other windows were also cracked.
Employment support officer Glyn Barrier, aged 48, said he walked out of the kitchen seconds before the shed door crashed through his window on Friday.
"I was extremely lucky," he said. "I was in there literally seconds before and I walked out as it exploded.
"It was horrendous, I've never seen or heard anything like it. It sounded like a bomb and the only thing I've ever seen even close to it was on EastEnders or something like that.
"It could've been a lot worse and it is a wonder nobody was killed."
His partner, Julie Poole, 37, said it was a frightening experience for the family, including Benji, 10, and Aleesha, one.
"It smashed the window, smashed the kettle, my mobile phone and dented the fridge," she said.
"Two pieces of sleeper wood came flying through as well and hit the wall.
"My 10-year-old has been at his uncle's as he was too frightened to stay here."
The cause of the 5.30pm blast is being investigated.
It is that thought a fire caused petrol fumes from an open can to explode inside the brick shed – part of a block of sheds belonging to people living in the maisonettes.
