Emergency services have launched an investigation after a man died in a house fire in south-west London.
Four fire engines crewed by 25 firefighters were called to Onslow Road in Richmond shortly after 8pm on Monday night.
They attended at a three-bed home on the street, said to be worth some £2.1million in the leafy suburb, and reported damage within the ground floor of the property.
Tragically, the body of a man was discovered within the home, and pronounced dead at the scene.
Details of the deceased were not immediately available; the Metropolitan Police have described him as ‘elderly’.
A Metropolitan Police car sits outside the house in Onslow Road, Richmond, where a man died following a fire on Monday
Four fire engines crewed by 25 firefighters attended the blaze, which broke out shortly after 8pm
Firefighters and a forensic investigator wearing white overalls gather outside the property following the fatal bonfire
Residents in adjoining properties were evacuated as a precaution while the fire was extinguished.
Investigators have moved in; forensics experts in white overalls were seen at the entrance to the property as their inquiries got underway.
Neighbours said flames could be seen ‘erupting’ inside the front door last night, which this morning had been rendered a sooty black.
Detectives were seen to knock doors on the street, asking neighbours if they’d noticed anything ‘suspicious’ last night.
A single bunch of flowers, left by a neighbour, sat outside the property in front of a parked police car.
Ian Manning, who has lived across the road for around 25 years, said firefighters had told his wife that the fire was believed to have started in the kitchen of the home.
The 63-year-old, who did not know the elderly victim, said: ‘A fireman said it started in the kitchen.
‘We got alerted that there were people on our front drive, and we went out to see a fireman there.
‘There was smoke billowing out of the house and it continued for the best part of an hour.
‘About 15 minutes after we came out to see what was going on, flames suddenly erupted just inside the front door.
‘We could see naked flames, which was very strange because it had been probably around half an hour since it had started by that time. All the smoke was coming out of the front door.
‘Everyone drifted away quite slowly, but most were gone by about 10:30, though a police car was still there around an hour later. Nothing like this has ever happened around here before.’
A live-in carer living in a home directly opposite No. 73 estimated that the elderly victim was in his late eighties or early nineties, with another neighbour saying he rarely saw the man without a companion – either a family member or a carer.
‘He was old,’ the carer, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
‘He was in his nineties, I would say, or late eighties. I just used to say hello once in a while to him.
‘I saw the fire brigade outside around eight o’clock. It was dark. I was taking out the bins when I saw the fire engine. It’s sad, really. He seemed a nice person.’
Brenton Booth, a company director originally from South Africa who lives a few doors down from the scene of the tragedy, added: ‘I didn’t know the man, though I had seen him around before.
‘He was an elderly gentleman. When I did see him he was with a family member or some form of carer. They were always with him when he left the house.
‘Last night, I climbed off my bicycle, went to the kitchen and heard the first fire engine coming down. The fire services and police were on the scene pretty quick.
‘We went out into the road. There was a lot of smoke coming from the front part of the building. By the time I got out there the fire services and police were pushing us back.
‘We didn’t get evacuated, but they said to us: “Go inside. If we need to evacuate you, we will”. The next-door neighbour was outside the whole time, talking to the fire services all the time.’
Claire, a mother-of-two living just a few doors down from the house, said she too had seen the elderly man in passing, but didn’t know his name.
‘I have seen him around,’ she said. ‘We’ve been here six-and-a-half years. I have offered to carry his shopping into his house when walking past his house before, but he always refused.
‘Nobody knows anything at the moment. I’ve had the police here this morning. The lady over the road saw the fire and called the fire brigade. There was no explosion or anything… Nobody knows what happened.
‘Everybody was out in the street but nobody really knew what was going on or if the man was inside. It’s very sad.’
The neighbours living either side of the elderly victim’s home did not wish to comment on the fire.
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said: ‘Sadly, a man has died following a house fire in Richmond.
‘Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters responded to a fire on Onslow Road, in a building of three floors. Part of the ground floor was damaged by the fire. A man was found in the home, and sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
‘The Brigade was called at 2008, and the fire was under control by 2205. Firefighters from Richmond, Kingston and Twickenham fire stations attended the scene.
‘The fire is under investigation by the Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service.’
A spokesperson for the Met Police said: ‘An elderly man has died following a fire in Richmond. Police were called at 8.14pm to the fire at an address in Onslow Road.
‘Some neighbouring addresses were evacuated as a precaution. The cause of the fire is currently unknown. Police remain at the scene.’
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson told the Standard: ‘We were called at 8:09pm to reports of a fire on Onslow Road, Richmond.
‘We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team (HART).
‘Sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.’