A fire that broke out at the front of a shop in Birmingham is “under control”, emergency services said.
West Midlands Fire Service said it responded to the incident at Stratford Road, Sparkhill, shortly before 4.55am on Monday.
The fire service said the blaze at the front of a retail store spread to shop signage and the bay windows of flats above.
It added that there were no casualties or injuries after five people received checks from attending paramedics after leaving their properties.
A witness said they thought the fire was caused by a car which was set alight and rammed into a supermarket.
Emergency services attended the scene of a fire at a mixed commercial and residential premises on Stratford Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)
Local property developer Isaac Zintaan said he was alerted to the fire by residents of his nearby premises after they told him they heard a “loud explosion”.
“I have a business close by… the residents of my premises heard a loud explosion – ‘like a bomb went off’ that’s what they described,” the 28-year-old from Sparkhill told the PA news agency.
“(When I arrived) everyone was coughing due to the intensity of the smoke.”
Mr Zintaan said it appeared a car had rammed the supermarket on the ground floor of the building and footage taken by him showed a Land Rover on fire with its rear to the property – as if having reversed into it.
A 4×4 was pictured on Monday morning being extracted from the shop by a fire truck.
The car appeared charred and warped by the fire, with bay windows above the shop burnt out.
In a statement on Monday morning, West Midlands Fire Service said: “Firefighters have made good progress at the scene and the fire is under control.
“The hydraulic aerial platform remains in use as crews work to prevent fire spread. Two fire engines remain at the scene.
“Police colleagues are in attendance. Stratford Road is closed in both directions from Formans Road to Nansen Road.”
Ten fire engines, two 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform responded to the incident, crewed by around 55 firefighters, the fire service added.