AN Enniskillen man and his young family narrowly escaped serious injury when the chip van they were working in suddenly went ablaze at the weekend.
Van owner Paddy McDonnell was working in the Diamond area of Enniskillen on Saturday night when flames began shooting dramatically from his vehicle into the air and black smoke billowed skywards.
Mr McDonnell was working in the chip van with his two young daughters Annalise, aged 16, and Sophia, aged 12, before all hell broke loose.
“My two wee girls were working with me a few minutes before it all happened. They usually help me until 11pm as it’s a wee family-run business we have,” he explained.
“I’m just grateful that no one was hurt.
“It was a terrible shock. When the lights went out [in the chip van] I knew something had happened to the generator. I went out to check it, only to see flames coming from it and going up the back of the van.
“By then it was all engulfed in flames. I emptied a fire extinguisher in on it but to no avail.”
A PSNI spokesperson said that police officers attended the scene to keep pedestrians away from the blaze and regulate traffic in the area.
Two Fire Appliances from Enniskillen Fire Station also attended the incident.
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