'NO SURVIVORS'
Two confirmed missing in arson fire after residents jumped from 12ft windows and man arrested for murder
SEVERAL people are feared dead following a "ferocious" flat fire which saw residents leap 12ft from third floor windows.
Police combing through the burnt out debris have said it is "highly unlikely" they will find any further survivors of the blaze, which is confirmed to have killed one but left others unaccounted for.
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A "massive explosion" sparked panic among those living in the block in Reading in the early hours of this morning, moments before the blaze erupted.
One resident said he made a "miracle" escape after jumping from the third storey.
The man, who walked barefoot with a bandage on one of his feet, told The Sun: "It was utterly horrific.
"I was woken by the fire alarm going off and opened my flat door to a huge amount of smoke.
"Then there was all of those loud bangs, like explosions.
"I was terrified. It was chaos. People were screaming and yelling.
"I heard people were jumping from windows so I did.
"It’s a miracle I am alive. I thought I was going to die. It was hellish."
He said he landed safely but hurt his leg, adding: "I thought it was better to break my leg than die."
Tom Price, 40, who lives in a nearby building, also said people were hurling themselves from their windows, with one woman jumping from "a high floor".
"There were screams and shouts and glass was being smashed," he added.
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The fire broke out off Grovelands Road at about 3am, and police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of arson and murder.
Three people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while eight others were treated at the scene.
One person was confirmed dead this morning and officers have been scouring the remains for an unconfirmed number of missing people.
However, Thames Valley Police Superintendent Steve Raffield this afternoon said he did not expect to find any signs of life in the rubble.
"We have been working to do everything we can to find signs of life but sadly it is highly unlikely we will find further survivors in the building," he said.
"The building itself is unstable and it will be a complex operation as we move through today. We expect to continue into the evening and beyond."
Neighbours living a short distance from the block today told of hearing shouts and screams during the chaos.
One resident said: "There was a lady stuck in there waving a white hanky out the window. She was rescued by firefighters."
Another, of the same road, said she thought the sound of breaking glass from the the crackling fire was someone smashing bottles in the car park.
"The flames coming out of the roof were extremely ferocious. No wonder the roof has collapsed," she said.
Yvonne and Nathaniel Scale said their daughter had been the one to raise the alarm and call the fire brigade after feeling the house shake.
Yvonne said: "She woke up to a loud bang. She said she felt the whole house shake from the force of it and she quickly rang the fire brigade.
"We thought that it must have been a gas explosion, we couldn't believe that it was arson until we saw the news. It really was a massive explosion."
'EXTREMELY FEROCIOUS'
The fire has left the flats a shattered ruin, with water having to be drawn from all across the quiet residential area to allow firefighters to extinguish the inferno.
Viorica Bercea, who saw the fire from her bedroom said: "There was a police helicopter overhead as well and the firefighters were having to get water from everywhere, even the church, to fight the flames, it was a big fire."
The area has been cordoned off since about 3am, and the public have been told to stay away.
Cops have also told residents to contact loved ones living nearby as officials scramble to find those still missing - but Superintendent Steve Raffield said it was "highly unlikely we will find any further survivors".
Photos from the scene show flames and smoke billowing out of a block of flats, some of which are believed to have been destroyed.
The acrid smell of burning plaster and plastic this morning lingered in the air around the four-storey building, where layers of wall and roof tiles have been ripped away and windows have shattered.
Neighbour Kaye Edwards said locals could also smell petrol before the flats turned into a giant fireball.
She added: "We were up all night. One of my friends who lives in the flats told me that a man on a stretcher being put into an ambulance said that he had smelled petrol and he heard that someone had set it alight.
"We could just hear a lot of loud banging and screaming. There was chaos everywhere.
"My husband rang the fire brigade and told them that he could hear people screaming for help and trying to get out."
It’s a miracle I am alive. I thought I was going to die. It was hellish.
Another resident said a man they believe to have started the blaze got into his car and left "very quickly".
They also described seeing a middle aged woman in a terrified state on the second floor of the block - and then later saw her on the floor after she had jumped.
"My wife woke me up and shouted fire, fire," he said. "I saw a middle aged woman in the block which was engulfed in flames. It was horrendous."
Dramatic mobile phone video taken by one of the neighbours shows orange flames bursting through the roof the building with fire crew ladders propped against the two-storey block.
Other residents can be see gathering at the end of the road as fire crews tackled the blaze.
The incident is not being treated as terror-related, Thames Valley Police said.
"Following an extensive search, during which all rescue opportunities were exhausted, we can sadly confirm that we do not expect there to be any more survivors.
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"As confirmed earlier, we know that one person has tragically died. Two people have since been confirmed missing."
The force added emergency services will be at the scene overnight and work will begin on Thursday to assess the structural damage to the building.
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