MORE THAN 25 people were evacuated yesterday from a supermarket when gas canisters exploded in a blaze outside.
Thirty domestic gas canisters at SuperValu in Market Square, Bundoran, exploded as the fire reached them from a parked delivery van. Flames were more than 9m (30ft) high when fire units from Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Donegal town got to the scene. Fire crews got the fire under control within minutes, and before it reached a fourth-floor unoccupied apartment.
Nobody was injured. A SuperValu spokesman said: “We managed to evacuate the store of staff and customers, about 25 in all, within about two minutes.”
The alert was raised at 1.25pm. Michael Goodwin, Bundoran fire station officer, said: “We are still checking the precise cause of the fire but it appears to have been connected in some way to the van. When the heat reached a certain level, valves on top of the nearby gas canisters started exploding.
“The valves are a safety device to let the gas escape.” Gardaí and fire inspectors have begun an inquiry into the blaze.