Wigan grandad's shock over freak gas explosion

Frank Fenton was sent reeling after the gas burner he was using to get rid of weeds outside his house unwittingly sparked flammable gas which had built up underground.

Sleuthing firefighters and gas engineers, for whom the Winstanley 78-year-old was full of praise today, say they believe the “unprecedented incident” had been caused by neighbours burning rubbish with the aid of an accelerant which had been spilt and somehow entered the water course.

It then caused a build-up of gas in a sealed footpath compartment for a water meter which was ignited by the shocked gardener.

Grandad Mr Fenton had been using his burner to scorch away weeds outside his home in Antrim Close on Tuesday afternoon when “the pavement exploded.”

The retiree said: “I was doing a bit of weeding with one of the special burners, like a blow lamp that burns the weeds. I went round the back garden and thought I would do between the wall and the pavement at the front of the property.

“I had done two or three feet and the next minute there was a rumble kind of noise and the next thing, where the water meter is, the top of the grid flew four or five feet in the air with a shot of flame and consequently after that there was smoke coming out. I thought, ‘what have I done?’

“There was so much smoke that I didn’t want to take a chance and phoned 999. The fire brigade were here in less than four minutes.

“Thankfully no-one - including me - was hurt but it really shook me up. I was quivering for a long time afterwards.”

The flames and smoke had mostly gone when a crew from Wigan fire station’s white watch arrived.

But firefighters spent two hours investigating what had happened, along with gas inspectors from Cadent.

Crew manager Mike Fairhurst said: “I have never come across anything like this before in my career.

“It was a freak accident but again shows the dangers of burning rubbish in your garden instead of taking things to the tip.

“It wasn’t a big explosion but must have gone with quite a bang and been a shock to the gentleman.

“Cadent ran all kinds of checks and couldn’t find any gas leaks and we eventually came to the conclusion that the cause was someone in a home nearby using an accelerant such as white spirit to help along the burning of rubbish. Some of this has spilt onto the patio and down into the water course and got stuck in pipework. This created vapours which became trapped in a water meter compartment in the pavement. It was a little void well sealed with foam, so when this genteleman goes along burning his weeds it went ‘pop.’

“This was an accident. What was being done by the neighbour was probably well-meaning and controlled but it still led to this alarming incident. So don’t use flammable liquids in the garden and take your rubbish to a recycling centre.”

Mr Fenton praised the firefighters, describing them as “absolutely fantastic”, and plans to write to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to recognise their efforts.

He added: “I want to highlight the efficiency of the fire brigade. It was second to none.”

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