One dead in fatal fire on Lyndhurst Road in Ashurst

The blaze happened in a flat in Ashurst, above a hairdressers on Lyndhurst Road.

More than 30 firefighters were called out to the incident.

Police sealed off the road in the village after the alarm was raised at about 2.30am.

The fire broke out in a flat above the Ashcroft hair salon in the early hours of the morning and has now been extinguished.

A firefighter at the scene would give no further information on the incident, which happened just opposite the Happy Cheese pub on the end of a row of buildings.

Police officers and firefighters remain at the scene and an investigation is currently being carried out.

Motorists are now able to access the Happy Cheese car park and Ashurst hospital after restrictions were lifted by the fire service.

Firefighters from St Marys, Totton and Redbridge were called out to deal wiht the incident.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire by police and fire chiefs.

A statement from Hampshire Police this morning said: "We are currently investigating a fire which started just before 2.30am today (Wednesday January 13) at a residential property on Lyndhurst Road, Ashurst.

"We can confirm that sadly as a result of that fire one person has died.

"Investigations are now underway into the circumstances of the fire alongside our colleagues at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service."

People on the street were visibly upset by the incident while firefighters continued to work at the building.

One man, who declined to give his name, said he "felt sick" after hearing about the fire.

Nick Hunter, 52, from Fareham is the business owner of the Happy Cheese pub near the flat and said the man who died was a much loved regular.

He said: "The staff were always having a bit of banter with him, he always sat on that barstool and got the barstool ready for the quiz.

"He always asked how you were and wanted to have a chat, he would give a bit of jip and a bit of banter but never anything sinister.

"The quiz tonight is going to be a hard, we are going to have to make an announcement because a lot of the locals new him.

"There will be a period of mourning and remembrance, he was part of the fabric of the building.

"When he didn't come in someone would call and make sure he was ok."

Harriet Frampton, 22, from Totton is the assistant manager at the pub often served him his regular order of pints of Ringwood Best, and said: "We are all quite close here and he became part of it.

"He was always happy and he came here to have a joke and chat to people.
"He used to say to me he would pop down to the Co-op for a pint of milk and he would speak to this person and that person and it would take him 45 minutes.

"He had a story for everything."

Neighbour John Blow said: "It was the fire that woke me up, crackling and the banging at around 2.15am.

"I got up and rang the fire brigade.

The retired 69-year-old added: "I just ran down the stairs and up the garden and rang the fire brigade.

"I heard the explosion, it blew the roof off and started spread to my place.
"This is the first time something like this has happened in the nine years I have been here.

"I just got a rush of adreniline to get out, it it just such a shame because of the guy next door.

"He was a genuine fella and really nice, he did shift work."

Officers said they are waiting for electric power to be cut off from the flat before they enter it.

Karen Paynter, 46, from Sholing owns Snippitz hair dressers near the flat and said: "It is such a sad affair, there is nothing you can really say, it is really dreadful."

• Additional reporting by Felix Morris