Bexleyheath fire: Neighbours heard screaming as two children and two women die in house fire

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the fire at a property in Hamilton Road, Bexleyheath, south east London, on Thursday was a “truly terrible incident”.

Two women and two children were rescued from the first floor of the building but all died at the scene, London Fire Brigade confirmed.

One man left the property before firefighters arrived and has been taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service.

Mr Roe said: “This is a truly terrible incident which is both sad and shocking. Our thoughts are with the family, friends and local community at this difficult time.”

Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters attended the blaze. The brigade was called shortly before 8.30pm and the fire was extinguished by 9.45pm.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Neighbours heard children screaming and a “distraught” man outside the home that was “engulfed in flames” where two children and two women died in a house fire.

Builder Scott James said the semi-detached terraced house in Bexleyheath in south-east London was “quickly engulfed in flames” as smoke blew out to the street on Friday at about 8.30pm.

Mr James, whose home is a stone’s throw away from the scene, said he saw people standing against a wall and one man laying alongside the wall.

“I got overwhelmed by smoke and then the whole house was engulfed,” he said.

“The downstairs was on fire and then the whole house went up. It was engulfed in flames. There wasn’t an explosion.”

The man who was by the wall was “distraught”, he added.

Mr James said he was worried and told the neighbours to get back, with the fire brigade turning up shortly afterwards.