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Man burned and windows smashed in exploding hairspray drama
A DAD is lucky-to-be-alive today after catching fire when a can of hairspray exploded and rocketed through the ceiling of a South Yorkshire home.
The freak accident caused an explosion which blew out windows in the family's home.
Simon Elsey, aged 40, of Badsley Moor Lane, Herringthorpe, Rotherham, suffered burns and blisters after the aerosol overheated and exploded - shooting through the ceiling.
The hairspray had been left on top of a children's fireguard in front of a lit fire, causing a ferocious blast which blew out two window panes in the lounge and cracked others in the dining room and in bedroom.
Simon was asleep on the floor of the lounge along with his 17-year-old son Shane when the explosion - so powerful the can was left embedded in the ceiling - happened.
Flames spread to clothes drying on the guard and ornamental dolls on the fire surround and Simon suffered burns and blisters trying to extinguish the flames. He was taken to hospital for checks.
Firefighters said he was lucky not to have been engulfed in flames or struck by the can flying through the air.
Shane told The Star: "I heard a massive bang and my dad shouting 'help me', so I ran into the kitchen for some water.
"There were flames behind the telly and the curtains were just about to go up. My dad was trying to put them out with his arms. I didn't know what was going on at first and couldn't believe it when we saw the can in the ceiling."
Simon's wife Mandy, 40, added: "I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs thinking somebody had put something through our window - I didn't expect to see the fire.
"Simon was screaming and I could see raw skin where he had tried to put the flames out.
"There are a lot of us in this house so nobody knows who it was who left the can so close to the fire but it is something we will not be doing again.
"I am going to buy some kind of a lock-up cupboard for the garden to store all our cans in - you don't realise how dangerous they are."
Mandy was upstairs with her five-year-old son Lewis, 19-year-old daughter Kelly Wright, son-in-law Scott Wright, 23 and their children Jack, two and Jessica, seven weeks, when the can exploded. She said: "I dread to think what might have happened - we are all in shock."
Rotherham fire station manager Shaun Pilley said: "This could have been a lot worse if the casualty had been caught by the fireball or the can itself flying up to the ceiling.
"I hope it serves as a warning to others not to use them near naked flames or to store them near a heat source, such as fires, radiators or on window sills.
"These cans can get hot very rapidly and explode when the build-up of pressure inside becomes too much."
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
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