Explosion heard as car ‘rammed into supermarket’ in Birmingham
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Firefighters responded to a blaze at the shop in Stratford Road in Sparkhill in the early hours of Monday morning. A loud explosion was heard as a major blaze broke out at a supermarket in Birmingham, with a witness claiming it was started by a car set alight and rammed into the shop.
![[The remains of a burnt out car at the scene of a fire at a mixed commercial and residential premises on Stratford Road]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/10/d8be938b-1c32-4b08-81d6-df41a4bbd52d.jpg)
Firefighters were called to the blaze in Sparkhill in the early hours of Monday. The incident saw the fire spread from the front of a retail store to shop signage and the bay windows of flats above. Images show a damaged white car at the scene, which has been cordoned off by firefighters and police vehicles for the public’s safety and an investigation.
![[Dozens of firefighters and ten fire engines attended the scene]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/10/2589b5d3-5ed8-4501-9ef9-b9f135c14f91.jpg)
Local property developer Isaac Zintaan said he had been alerted to the fire after residents of his nearby premises told him they had heard a “loud explosion” which sounded “like a bomb went off”. “(When I arrived) everyone was coughing due to the intensity of the smoke,” the 28-year-old said, adding that it appeared a car had rammed into the supermarket on the ground floor.
![[The fire broke out in the early hours of Monday morning]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/10/002275a9-4206-4092-9935-991b507c6b24.jpg)
No casualties have been reported by the fire service, which said five people had left their properties and been checked by paramedics. Fire investigators are working with crews at the scene to ascertain the full circumstances of the fire. West Midlands Fire Service said in a statement: “Shortly before 4.55am on Monday (23 December), we responded to Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham.
