Explosion hero saves 3 policemen
Published: September 25, 2006
A HERO off-duty fireman saved the lives of three policemen when an electricity sub-station exploded.
Roy O’Reilly’s eyelashes were burnt off and his hair singed when a generator blew up as he ushered the officers to safety, catching him and one policeman in the flash-over.
Roy, 36, said today: ‘It came out fairly aggressively and caught the police officer full in the face and arms.
‘He sustained fairly serious injuries to his face. He was conscious, so me and the other two officers assisted him until the ambulance arrived.’
Roy, who is married and has two daughters, Lowri, nine, and Niamh, six, was just about to leave home for his shift at Pontypridd fire station when he heard ‘a loud bang followed by screams’, and the lights went off in his house.
He raced to the disused Brown Lenox compound after yesterday’s 8.30am explosion, and searched the main building but found nothing.
Then he saw the policemen standing outside, near the burning generator.
Roy said: ‘They wanted to preserve the scene. I told them to move away, then it exploded.
‘Myself and an officer were caught in the flame flash-over. I shut my eyes. All my hair is singed, I’ve got no eyelashes and the hairs of my arms are gone. I was pretty shaken up.’
A 100-metre cordon was set up and stores on a nearby retail park were evacuated. More than 590 homes were left without power.
Firefighters battled the blaze for two hours, while the injured policeman was taken to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant.
Roy, a leading firefighter, said: ‘There have been a few incidents of people stripping copper wire out of the old building.
‘An unfortunate act of apparent vandalism has put members of the emergency services at risk and led to one police officer going to hospital with burns.
‘What could have ended in terrible tragedy could have been avoided.
‘Around the community there are lots of abandoned buildings where it’s presumed there is no risk. This isn’t always the case.’
Police Inspector Lyn Hester said: ‘It would appear at this stage that the explosion was as a result of damage inflicted on an electricity generator, caused in the process of a suspected attempted burglary of the building.’
Two men aged 33 and 34 were arrested and are helping police with their inquiries.
HOMES CUT OFF More than 590 homes were left without power when the sub-station blew up yesterday morning.
Western Power Distribution spokesman Paul Bishop said: ‘We were called to the scene just after 9am when the police had made the area safe.
‘Our priority at that time was to get the supplies back to our customers. About 590 homes were affected, which were close to the sub-station.
‘We managed to get supplies back on within the hour. We’ve been told vandals caused the problem and the damage.’
Resident David Jones, of Ynysangharad Road, Pontypridd, said: ‘I heard a bit of noise, which seemed more like a thud. The electricity went off for about an hour-and-a-half.’
The former Brown Lenox factory is currently subject to a planning wrangle with supermarket giant Morrisons, which hopes to build a 75,000sq ft store there.
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