9:56pm Tuesday 1st September 2009
Exclusive By Julia Kennard
A firefighter was injured when an ambulance exploded after catching fire at St Helier Hospital.
Witnesses said they saw a fireman within a metre of the blaze when the explosion took place.
They said the man was knocked to the ground and later shouted out that he was okay.
A fire brigade spokesman said the fireman had received minor injuries.
Windows were blown out by the force as the explosion ripped through the ambulance outside the Sutton hospital.
Other eye witnesses including workers and people waiting for treatment described the moment the ambulance went up.
Gary White, 20, who works in the hospital coffee shop and Mick Wazayambu, 40, who works in the kitchen, said they saw thick black smoke coming into the hospital.
Mr White said: “We felt the explosion, it was a real blast. It didn’t shake the walls, but I thought it was a bomb going off.”
Amanda Duggan, 45, a housewife from Banstead, was waiting with her son Sam Duggan, 22, in A and E when patients were told to evacuate.
Together the pair rescued stranded James Miller, 31, when they found him a wheelchair to evacuate in.
She said: “We didn’t really know what was happening, it was almost like those who could walk could go and those who couldn’t were left.
“We found him a wheelchair and took him outside, it was quite unnerving.”
Road sweeper Michael Cornwell, 21, was working opposite the hospital when the force of the explosion hit him.
He said: “I first saw the smoke billowing out of the hospital; big thick smoke.
“Then five minutes later there was an explosion, it was like a bomb going off.
“It went right through me.”
London Fire Brigade spokesman Sam Kazmanli said as the fire brigade arrived two cylinders in the ambulance ruptured.
He said investigations were underway as to why the fire began.
He said: “About 200 people were evacuated.
“A fireman received minor injuries.”
Fireman had the scene under control by 6.40pm and the road was open to traffic again at about 7pm.
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