A man has explained how he feared for his family’s safety during a huge warehouse fire near his home.

Vikas Jain, of Headstone Lane, was working late when he heard a loud explosion coming from Pacester Joinery’s warehouse in Chantry Place.

When he looked outside he saw flames erupting from the building and smoke billowing towards his street.

A series of further explosions followed, causing Mr Jain to rush upstairs and ensure that his family was safe.

He said: “There were some huge explosions, four or five of them. It wasn’t like a small firecracker it was like ‘boom’, ‘boom’, ‘boom’.

“I thought it was a terrorist attack, it was clear that something was really wrong.

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“My first thought was that, because it was so loud and so near, it could smash the windows and my kids were sleeping upstairs.

“Everyone was okay, thank goodness, and it’s lucky that it seems that no one got hurt.”

Clumps of blackened ash had made their way onto Mr Jain’s garden and driveway, while his family car was covered with specks.

He said that while the event had certainly been frightening, the police and fire brigade had done well to ensure that there was minimum disruption.

Firefighters from across the region attended the blaze and London Fire Brigade said 12 people living close by had been evacuated as a precaution.

Train travel at Headstone Lane and services between Milton Keynes and London Euston was cancelled while the service at Watford Junction was severely delayed.

The fire was under control by the morning but emergency services were stationed to ensure this remained the case.

One shopkeeper, Parveen Kapour, explained how the chaos, and the subsequent cordons put in place, had disrupted his morning trade.

“It affected my business because the schoolchildren who come into my shop before school couldn’t get here,” he said. He added that he was pleased to see that nobody had been hurt.