A builder has spoken of the moment he rescued a baby from a fire raging in east London.

A man in his sixties was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of arson in a fire that destroyed a house in Newick Road, Hackney, at around midday.

Krzysztof Bozych, 48, was working two doors away from the fire, where his six-bedroom home is on sale for £1.7 million, when he heard a huge explosion from the road. .

Neighbors said a woman had jumped from the attic and was lying in the garden with a broken leg.

Mr Bozic told independent: “I heard a loud bang; it was so loud. I walked up to the roof and thought, what the hell happened?

“I heard a woman screaming from the window, ‘It’s on fire, please help me.’” There was no time to wait.

“I tore open the fence and grabbed the ladder. When I climbed the ladder, my mother was so scared that she was going to jump on me.

“I said, ‘Calm down, relax, we’re going to get you out.’”

“I thought, she passed the baby on to me. I realized I was holding a baby in my hands. I thought, ‘I’m going to be the godfather.’ “

“I didn’t think about myself that everyone would do the same thing.”

He added: “Mum was shocked and kept crying. They had lost everything and it was irreversible. She was scared. I took her to safety at the end of the garden.”

Police said the suspect yelled “threatening remarks, some of which were allegedly anti-Semitic” when he was arrested.

Four people were injured in the fire, with non-life-threatening injuries, and the suspect also suffered minor injuries. He is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.

One neighbor said: “I heard a loud bang, like a truck had hit the wall of my house. My cutlery rattled and I was running around banging on the door trying to get everyone out. It was really horrible.”

Another neighbor said a man opened the door to the ground-floor property before the fireball engulfed the house, which was divided into three apartments.

Locals said they did not know if a Jewish family lived in the multi-occupied house.

The Metropolitan Police said the man was arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and making anti-Semitic remarks.

DCS James Conway, who oversees policing in Hackney, said: “Since his arrest the man made a number of threatening comments, some of which are alleged to be anti-Semitic.

“We take incidents of anti-Semitism very seriously and are therefore investigating this incident as a potential hate crime.

“There is no doubt that this is extremely worrying news for the Jewish community in Hackney and beyond, and my officers and I will be working with partners such as the Community Safety Trust and Shomrim to answer their questions and listen their opinions.

“While the investigation will continue to explore the motive for this crime, we believe at this stage it is mainly focused on issues related to local housing. At this very early stage we have no indication that the motive is linked to any specific local or global incident related.”

He added that the incident was not being treated as terror-related and that the Met had increased patrols and police visibility as the Jewish community began to celebrate the Purim holiday.

A spokesman for the Community Safety Trust said: “This appears to be a very serious incident and we thank the police for their swift action.

“We have been in contact with the police since yesterday and we will work with them to provide reassurance to the local Jewish community over the coming days.”