Roundhill Close flats evacuation: What we know after boiler exploded

The blast in a block of new-build flats in Roundhill Close caused a huge water leak.

Firefighters rushed to the scene on Wednesday night to make the area safe.

Here is what we know so far on what happened and what will happen next.

UPDATE: Hot water back on after huge water leak

Note: The fire service originally said a boiler exploded, but the council has said a "fault within the Heat Interface Unit" is to blame.

Faulty boiler

At 8.43pm on Wednesday firefighters were called out to reports of a sounding fire alarm at a flat on Roundhill Close.

Hightown and St Mary’s crews arrived to find a large water leak, which they say was the result of a boiler explosion.

The occupants of the groundfloor flat, a 49-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter, evacuated the building alongside their neighbours.

The fire service said it carried out "a salvage operation" and cleared water from the flooded flat.

Firefighters isolated water and electrics before securing the property and handing over the incident to Southampton City Council, which owns and manages the building.

READ MORE: Residents left 'shaken' after boiler blows up in flat

Mum's shock

Sarah Astridge lives in the affected flat and was the first person to raise the alarm after noticing a strange noise coming from the boiler.

She said: "I was in my flat and started hearing a hissing noise coming out of the boiler room and when I looked there was hot water and steam coming out of the pipes.

"I then went into my daughter's room and grabbed her and we got out because I didn’t know if it was gas or what steam was coming out.

"I ran back to grab my cat and I ended up falling over and hurting my knee because it was dark.

"At this point, the walking watch was alerted to the incident and the fire bell rang."

Residents outside the block of flats in Roundhill Close the morning after the explosion (Image: Jose Ramos)

Neighbour Stacey Corbin, who rushed to help, added: "I came down when I heard the fire alarm and heard the daughter shout 'it’s in our flat'.

"I came in to have a look and I could hear hissing when I came into the flat.

"When I opened the boiler room door the steam heat just hit me in the face."

READ MORE: Boiler explodes causing huge water leak in flat - as it happened

History of issues

Wednesday night's accident has left residents "shaken".

It is not the first time concerns have been raised over the flats' safety.

Last month, the council confirmed it launched an investigation after discovering "ongoing" fire safety issues.

This was sparked after a full evacuation of the building on September 24 due to a system fault, with some residents saying individual alarms did not go off.

At the time the council said that there was "no risk" to residents.

READ MORE: Major fire safety work carried out at block of flats

What is the council saying?

Southampton City Council says the "nature of the issue" was a water leak.

In a short statement, a spokesperson said: "We can confirm that the nature of the issue was a water leak on a main supply connection to an individual property and members of our Property and our Housing Operations team are working to resolve the issue."

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