5.05pm UPDATE: Croydon Council emergency teams are helping those affected by the blaze - click here for the full story

13.23pm UPDATE: Click here for a picture gallery of the blaze

12.50pm UPDATE: "There was a lot of panic. All I was thinking about was getting my children out of the house." - click here for the full story

Your Local Guardian: South Norwood fire picture for stories embedding. September 23, 2010. Croydon Guardian.

10.42am UPDATE: A 51-year-old man handed himself in to South Norwood Police station after the fire took hold and was arrested on suspicion of arson, it has emerged.

A police spokeswoman said: “He will be interviewed in due course.”

Police said 19 people were forced to leave their homes and one person treated in hospital in the fire which started around midnight.

10.25am UPDATE: The entire three storey Edwardian flat conversion will have to be torn down due to the extensive damage to the property, sources said this morning.

The entire front of the top two floors have been destroyed in the blast, believed to have occurred at around 12.20am.

Six flats were evacuated with most of the families staying with friends and family overnight.

Dozens of people were forced to flee their homes after an explosion rocked flats in South Norwood last night.

Two adults and two children have been treated for smoke inhalation in hospital following the fire in Oliver Grove, which caused the front of a three storey building to partially collapse.

Eight adults and six children managed to escape the building before firefighters from red watch arrived at 12.30pm, and another 16 people were moved out of neighbouring properties.

Flats on the first and second floors of the three-storey building have been severely damaged by the fire, which was described as a major incident by a London Fire Brigade spokesman.

Did you see what happened? Contact the newsdesk on 020 8330 9554 or send your pictures to newsdesk@croydonguardian.co.uk