Singer Liam Payne is used to making news as part of One Direction, but on Monday night, it was a frightening explosion at his apartment that made news instead.

The Mirror reports that a gas heater on the balcony of Liam's London penthouse blew up and sent three of his friends to the hospital with burns -- two don't seem to be seriously injured, but one male pal reportedly "suffered 20 percent burns to his hands and face."

“[Liam's] friend went to fill up the gas for a heating lamp," a source said. "There was some sort of accident and the whole balcony went up in flames.”

The singer himself was not outside when the explosion happened, but the resulting fire forced almost three dozen people to evacuate his luxury apartment building and required 35 firefighters to extinguish.

“It was about 10PM when it happened. I was sitting outside and there was a strong smell of burning," reported a resident who lives two floors down from Liam. “I looked up, saw flames. All I saw was an orange glow, so the flames were pretty big ... I heard an explosion. That’s when I called it in."

“We were evacuated downstairs ... Then a guy ran out with a cloth on his hands screaming," he continued. "There was a guy who had burnt his face who was being helped by the emergency services ... Everybody was evacuated and nobody was allowed back in until it was sorted out."

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