“We live to tell the tale but it could have been so different.”
Former BBC Wales reporter Nick Palit, 60, and his wife Angela, 59, were left badly burnt after fleeing for their lives when their fireplace exploded “for no apparent reason”.
Ms Palit was blown across the kitchen by a “big orange fireball” at their home in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, and said she thought she was going to die as her hair caught fire and she felt her face burning.
The couple will spend six months away from their home while it is rebuilt and Mr Palit said his wife was “traumatised” by the bio-ethanol fire explosion, which despite being a popular alternative to “living” flames, are flammable and can cause serious harm.
Video edited by Greg Davies