A CHIP shop owner today told how he tackled a blaze just moments before an explosion ripped steel ducting from the back wall of the building.

Les Scott was lucky to escape when a cooking range at his Cemetery Chippy, Keighley Road, Colne, burst into flames and set fire to gasses in the nine-inch diameter piping, which exploded tearing it apart and leaving a gaping hole in the back of the building.

The fire gutted the chip shop and the force of the explosion blew out a back window but fortunately no-one was hurt.

"I was just heating up the ranges and I'd gone downstairs for something," said Les. "When I got back into the shop one of the ranges was on fire. I tried to put it out with a dry powder extinguisher but it just blew back at me. We have a safety system installed so I pushed the button to stop the gas supply.

"I threw a fire blanket over the range, called 999 and then got out of there as quickly as possible. I didn't mess about."

Quick-thinking Les went to neighbouring shops to warn them of the danger and then stopped traffic on busy Keighley Road.

"I knew it was going to blow," he said.

"You could feel the pressure building up inside. There was this almighty bang from the back of the shop. It just ripped the metal ducting apart and blew it off the back wall."

The drama happened at 11am yesterday as Les was on his own preparing to open the shop for lunchtime trade. There were no customers in the shop.

"We've just spent £3,000 doing the place up. We put in two new microwave ovens and put some new flooring down and all that has gone up. I've been in the trade 10 years and I've never had anything like this happen."

Station officer David Gilligan, of Colne fire station, said: "We're putting it down to gasses building up in the ducting which have heated up and heated up to the point where they've ignited."

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