Camping stove explosion blows roof off flat

A man was hospitalised and a number of homes evacuated after a small camping stove exploded and caused considerable damage to a house in Killester, north Dublin.

The incident occurred at around 3.30pm and blew the roof off a unit in a complex for the elderly. Those in the adjacent units were evacuated and will likely be re-housed by Dublin City Council.

The council's dangerous buildings department and Dublin Fire Brigade are investigating the cause of the blast.

While those investigations are at an early stage, it is believed a camping stove was accidentally placed on top of the cooker in the flat and exploded when it got hot.

“It seems the small gas stove was rested on the cooker and the man of the house thought he had turned on one of the other rings to cook something, but he accidentally lit the ring nearest the stove,” said one source.

The occupant of the flat was the only person in the property when the stove exploded. While he was taken to nearby Beaumont Hospital for treatment, he was not seriously injured.

The flat is an end of terrace first floor dwelling in a long row of ground floor and first floor units at St Brigid’s Court near Collins Avenue.

The roof of the flat was badly damaged and sections of it had been blown off. The gable wall was also damaged in the explosion and the row of properties will now be examined to determine how much structural damage was done to the other flats.