SOUTHAMPTON residents were shocked by a “horrendous” explosion during a late-night fire.

Fire crews rushed to the scene of a blaze on Bindon Close, Shirley Warren, where they battled flames higher than a two-storey house.

Receiving an emergency call at 1.55am on Saturday, crews from Redbridge, St Mary’s and Totton were on site to tackle the blaze which completely destroyed a garage in Shirley Warren.

The inferno blasted through a garden fence and left a neighbouring property with melted guttering.

Neighbours in adjacent properties were lucky to have escaped the fire relatively unscathed and claim that if the wind had been blowing the other direction there could have been even more damage.

According to fire and rescue services a 5m by 10m garage was 100 per cent destroyed in the fire.

A resident of Bindon Close who did not want to be named said: “I fell over when I heard an explosion.

I went outside to see what was going on and saw lots of my neighbours standing around.

“The flames were horrendous.

“It was scary. We were worried about our house going up in flames.

“Luckily the fire brigade got here very quickly – otherwise I think the house would have gone up.”

One resident of Bindon Road, which backs on to Bindon Close, said: “Really loud popping noises woke me up. I looked outside my bedroom window and could see flames.

“They were higher than the two-storey house opposite me. I could smell burning. My neighbours were knocking on doors, checking if people were ok. Luckily the fire brigade got it under control quickly. I was all a bit of a shock.”

The stop message came in at 3.28am. No one was reported injured and the cause of the fire is being investigated.