A holiday home has been destroyed and a woman was seriously injured in an explosion near Alton Towers.
Emergency services were dispatched to Bradley in the Moors in Staffordshire around four miles from the theme park. Eyewitnesses have reported three buildings being blown apart by the blast with one woman in her 50s flown to hospital suffering "serious burns".
Tommy Beardmore says his elderly dad of the same name, 82, was one of the first on the scene. He told StokeonTrentLive: "It happened around lunchtime. My dad was on the scene. He heard the explosions. Pieces were falling on him. It blew windows out on the nearby properties. My dad was on a walk nearby and went straight there. He wanted to go and help.
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"Three log cabins were all destroyed, they were all over the place and in the trees. My dad helped a woman and he phoned the emergency services. All the properties around must have heard it. It's a disaster. I assume it was a gas explosion. When my dad told me I was terrified and hoping everyone was OK.
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"I'm proud of my dad. He always taught me to run away from any danger but he runs to it even at his age. I'll have to give him a telling off when I see him."
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement: "We have extinguished a fire at a holiday cottage in Alton this afternoon (29 December) following reports of a gas explosion. Crews from Longton and Hanley were sent to an address on Bradley Lane, Threapwood, shortly after 12:40pm. Our colleagues from Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Ambulance Service also went to the scene.
"Firefighters used hose reel jets to extinguish the fire, which was put out around 1:30pm. Emergency services carried out a search in the area to make sure everyone was accounted for in the neighbouring properties.
"A woman, in her 50s, suffered serious burns at the scene. She was taken to hospital by air ambulance. As a result of the explosion, the building was destroyed. Gas engineers came out and isolated the supply to make sure the area was left safe.
"An investigation into what caused the explosion is ongoing and emergency services will remain at the scene."
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