Exclusive: An eyewitness to last year’s wildfire recalled hearing a “loud bang” coming from the railway overhead lines near Wood Street Station before grass by the track caught fire, reports Marco Marcelline
A small wildfire last year occurred in the same location as the huge blaze that destroyed homes and sheds in Walthamstow on Sunday (12th July).
The fire happened almost exactly a year ago (Saturday 12th July 2025) amid a spell of hot weather that saw temperatures climb to 31c in London.
Local resident James Cameron heard a “loud bang” as he was parking his car in Shernhall Street, before spotting sparks flying from the overhead electrical line on the London Overground track between Wood Street and Walthamstow Central.
He said: “The sparks landed on a patch of grass next to the track, and it caught fire. I immediately rang the Fire Brigade and two engines were on the scene in less than ten minutes. They put it out pretty quickly and that was that. Looking back, it was really lucky that this was sorted so quickly because it could have been far worse.”
His wife Laura Bouché told the Echo: “I would like to see that these issues are going to be taken more seriously due to the constant increase of the temperature every summer, and that there be preventative action taken rather than actions after these situations happen.”
She added: “The removal of cladding following Grenfell is an example of how action was taken only after something horrible happened. Maybe a quick solution in this case can be putting a fire regulated brick wall as a barrier between the train rail and residential homes.”
A Network Rail spokesperson confirmed it had investigated reports of a “line side fire” between Walthamstow and Wood Street around 9.50am that day.
The spokesperson added: “Trains were being cautioned through the area while the LFB arrived to extinguish the fire and the British Transport Police (BTP) were also on site to investigate reports of an ‘explosion’. The London Ambulance Service also arrived as a precaution.
“The fire was confirmed extinguished by 10.27am. Our mobile operations manager attended the site with the police to investigate the possible cause of the fire. The police report suggests the cause of the fire was ‘an electrical pot’, however no further details are given in the log.”
An “electrical pot” (often called a pothead) is a sealed, insulated terminal used where overhead electrical equipment transitions into underground or protected cabling.
Network Rail say they did not perform repairs on any railway equipment as a result of the incident last year.
An LFB spokesperson told the Echo: “We extinguished a small area of grassland that was alight next to the track. The Brigade was called at 9.35am on 12 July 2025. Two fire engines attended. No specific cause is recorded but the fire was treated as accidental.”
The more recent fire began shortly before 6.30pm on Sunday (12th July) by the railway track that sits behind homes in Vallentin Road.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the LFB; no injuries or casualties were reported but numerous sheds and outbuildings were destroyed.
The fire caused a tree next to the railway to fall, before flames ripped through 30 back gardens in Vallentin Road, destroying one home and damaging several others.
One eyewitness told ITV London: “There were loads of really loud bangs and I’m assuming that was the electricity surging, and a tree caught where it sparked off the railway lines and that set fire to our neighbour’s shed roof and it spread through the trees.”
Yesterday (14th July), Network Rail sent affected residents a letter informing them of the work that had been done on the site since the fire.
The works include the repair of a chain link boundary fence between the railway and homes, as well as the cutting back of fire-damaged trees.
Network Rail engineers yesterday decided that a Shernhall Street home needed to be demolished due to the “significant structural instability and risk” it poses to the railway and the public highway.
The demolition work is understood to have begun overnight last night, with engineers using cranes, scaffold towers and power tools in order to carry out the demolition.
There is no service on the Weaver Line between Walthamstow Central and Chingford until tomorrow (16th July) while urgent repairs are conducted on the line.
Are you affected by the fire and have concerns you want to share? Get in touch: [email protected]
Read more: Fire Brigade praised for containing huge Walthamstow fire
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