A brave workman helped save a family home from fire after he carried a burning gas canister into the bathroom shortly before it blew up.

The blast blew out two sets of glass doors at the Queen's Cove apartment in Mill Shares Road, Pembroke and left the workman, who has only been on the Island a week, shaken and nursing minor burns.

Arctic Climate Control manager Simon Tully said Paul Davidson's arms were bandaged up. "He's pretty shook up and his hair was singed."

Student Adam Petty was with his sister Allison in her bedroom when trouble flared shortly after 9 a.m. yesterday morning when the smoke alarm went off. Then they saw flashes of yellow flame reflected on the walls. Allison, 21, said: "One of the air conditioning men asked us for a glass of water to put out a little fire which ended up being an explosion which turned into a huge bang. "Luckily we ran out but the Arctic man got burned.

"If he didn't risk his arm to put the canister in the tub the whole house could have gone up in flame."

She said the apartment had a lot of wood structures which could have quickly caught alight, threatening the whole block. Lt. Dana Lovell of the fire service said: "It was a very brave action - very selfless. I guess he thought it would reduce the risk of the other occupants being injured."

Adam, 16, said: "My sister and our housekeeper left quickly and then one of the Arctic guys was telling his friend to get out. I came out and when I was half way down the stairs we heard the big explosion."

He then saw the workman nursing his injuries.

Adam said: "I wasn't worried about the house. I was worried about what his condition was when he was in the fire.

"Thankfully I had just left my bedroom because it was right outside of my bedroom. Luckily the other Arctic guy wasn't near. At least it was only one person there instead of it being all four of us trapped in one room."

His father Steven said: "How this guy is alive? The fire department say he's very, very lucky. He has just come out from England." The workmen were replacing a part on the air conditioner and were using a blow torch to weld the gas cylinder when there was a leak and it exploded. Mr. Petty said it would take at least a month to clean up the apartment. "Two sets of sliding doors were blown out but the windows were OK for some reason." Asked if the accident was rare Arctic's Mr. Tully said: "I have never seen it happen. I have never even heard about this happening."

Lt. Lovell said both workmen were taken to hospital and then released. He said Mr. Davidson had suffered severe burns to his fingers. The fire service is now investigating the explosion which caused around $7-8,000 of damage. The bathroom is blackened with soot while there is smoke damage in surrounding rooms. Lt. Lovell said: "It was not a suspicious accident, just purely an accident."