Neighbours said they feared people were inside and later in the day police said firefighters had managed to enter the home where they discovered a man and a woman dead in one of the bedrooms.
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At this stage there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire but investigations are at an early stage.
Several crews were scrambled to Valley View Road in Riddings at about 7.30am today. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the two people who have lost their lives”.
A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police has said: ‘Police officers are working with their fire service colleagues to investigate the cause of a fire at a house on Valley View Road in Riddings’.
The people who lived at the property were named locally as Simon and Shelley.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and police are now on the scene of the fire in the Riddlings area of Alfreton.
Six fire engines, including an aerial ladder platform and a command support unit, were sent to the scene shortly after the blast was reported at 7.30am. They extinguished the flames and then found that the house was not safe enough to enter.
Mark Robins, 32, of nearby Shawcroft Avenue, told the Derby Telegraph he was awoken by the sound of the explosion this morning.
Off duty fireman Paul Archer, of Oakland Crescent, just metres from the property, said: “I was in bed this morning when I heard a loud crashing noise”.
She added that cops and fire investigators would work to find out what caused the blaze.
More on this breaking story as we get it.
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A spokeswoman for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue said: “The fire is ongoing but we are unable to enter the building due to its structural integrity – it’s too unsafe at present so we are fighting the fire from the outside”.
