£4m Kensington house destroyed by fire while basement extension work is done

 
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Miranda Bryant2 July 2013

A £4 million west London house was destroyed by fire early this morning.

Dozens of firefighters fought the blaze which engulfed the three-storey house in Campden Grove, Kensington, at about 6am.

The house was under renovation with work underway to build to basement extension.

London Fire Brigade said nobody was injured although a mother and daughter from a neighbouring property were forced to evacuate their home by escaping into their garden.

Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters attended the fire after a passer-by called 999 just after 6am.

Firefighters were seen using a huge cherry-picker to put out the blaze as smoked billowed from the house. Campden Grove and part of Kensington Church Street were temporarily shut.

The cause of the fire is unknown. The owners, who neighbours said did not live in the house, are understood to have bought the property last year to renovate.

Nextdoor neighbour Alasdair Nagle, 52, was forced to evacuate with his housekeeper and pets after he awoke to smoke in his house.

Mr Nagle, who works in the finance industry, said: “We had smoke in our house and first of all I thought we had a problem, then we looked out and saw the next door house on fire and saw the flames and smoke. It’s a house being renovated so it’s been empty since September.”

He added: “The flames were pretty intense, within half an hour, the whole house was ablaze. Within 40 minutes the house collapsed.

“It’s an empty shell, completely gutted, we’re hoping it hasn’t spread...They were doing a full renovation and basement, we’ve had intense building noise until now and my worry now is that it’s going to continue.”

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