By Conor Kane
Gardaí and fire service personnel are trying to establish the cause of an explosion in a house in Waterford which led to a man suffering burn injuries.
The occupant of the house at Ballytruckle Road in the city is being treated at University Hospital Waterford after being taken there by ambulance following the explosion and fire which happened at 8.45pm last night.
It is understood his injuries are not life-threatening but he did sustain burns.
Initial speculation suggested the explosion was caused by gas but gardaí said this morning that it is too early to say how it happened.
“We’re following a number of lines of inquiry into it and clearly one of them is a close examination of the scene,” Superintendent Chris Delaney said.
A number of neighbouring houses were evacuated on last night after the incident, as a precaution, and the scene has been preserved by gardaí.
Four units of the Waterford fire brigade attended the scene and brought the fire under control by 10.30pm.
Fire service officers and members of the garda technical bureau are carrying out a forensic examination of the house to try and find out what caused the explosion. That examination is expected to last for much of today.
The property is a terraced, single-storey house located close to the end of the Ballytruckle Road cul-de-sac, metres away from the R709 Inner Ring Road and near Waterford city’s Old Tramore Road.
Emergency services are attending the scene of a gas explosion at a private house in Ballytruckle Waterford City. More info to follow.... pic.twitter.com/pGoXylFnJQ
— Beat 102 103 (@beat102103) March 4, 2018
