EXPLODING hair spray canisters blew out the front of a chemist's shop in Burnley early today.

Extensive damage was caused at Barry Pearson's chemists in Lyndhurst Road where two windows and part of the shop front were blown out into the street.

Leading Firefighter John Chapman said the cause was a relatively small fire with heat from a storage heater apparently setting fire to something on display. He said: "That caused some of the aerosols to go pop with enough force to smash both windows and blow out the shop front.''

The firefighters had a hairy experience when one of the hair spray cans exploded after they had just arrived at the scene shortly after 6am. The fire was quickly put out with little damage being caused inside the shop.

Owner Mr Pearson arrived to a scene of devastation and shop fitters were called to carry out repair work.

Mr Pearson said: "It is a shock. The damage was apparently caused by hair sprays and body spray deodorants in the window.

"Fortunately there was no-one on the premises and no-one was hurt.''

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