AN EYE-WITNESS to the Tilehurst fire described how he quickly evacuated his team after fearing the building would explode.

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Jason Mccutcheon, who owns the Reading branch of Benchmarx, which is located opposite ITP Ltd, said: "Around 8 o'clock, we were told by someone about a fire over the road and we saw a bit of smoke and were thinking it was a skip that had caught alight.

"We saw the fire and the flames jumped and I called the staff to evacuate.

"Within seconds, smoke turned to flames."

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Mr Mccutcheon and his colleagues instantly jumped into their cars to get away from the building.

"We waited there for a bit, but far away as it looked like it could explode.

"At one point the wind changed direction and came towards us it sounded as though there was a kind of explosion coming from the building, and we didn't know how much worse it could get.

"For safety to our employees we have closed the branch for today.

"People from all the buildings had come out and were watching what was happening."