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Terror of mother, 21, and three-year-old son as wood-burning stove explodes and wrecks their home

• Amy Rooke and her son Kayden left their home just moments before blast
• A 60 pound wood burning stove exploded in their living room
• Sofa Ms Rooke had been sitting in 15 minutes earlier was destroyed 
  

By SUZANNAH HILLS

PUBLISHED: 13:34, 15 February 2013 | UPDATED: 14:49, 15 February 2013

A mother and her three-year-old son had a lucky escape after they narrowly avoided an 'ferocious' explosion which wrecked their home. 

Amy Rooke, 21, and her son Kayden Byrnes had popped across the road to her parents' house just minutes before a stove exploded in her lounge blowing the room to bits.

The wood burning stove, which weighs 60 pounds, was propelled across the room in the blast bringing down half the chimney breast at the semi-detached house.

Destruction: Amy Rooke's father Dave inspects lounge in his daughter's house after a wood burning stove exploded tearing the room to bits

Ms Rooke, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, said: 'We were just unbelievably lucky. It just so happened that my little boy wanted to go over the road because he wanted to show his grandad his Thomas the Tank Engine toy that wasn't working anymore.

'It probably saved our lives. I'm always having a whinge about how much the Thomas toys cost but I've got a lot to thank Kayden for now.'

Lucky escape: Amy Rooke and her son Kayden had been sitting in the room minutes before the blast

Ms Rooke told of how she had been siting in the seat struck by the stove just 15 minutes earlier.

She continued: 'Fifteen minutes earlier Kayden was playing in front of the fire and I was sitting on the sofa where the stove ended up. It all just happened so quickly.

'Kayden knows the house is broken up but thankfully he's oblivious to it all because we weren't there.

'My next door neighbour said the blast actually knocked her husband off the sofa.'

Ms Rooke's father, Dave Rooke, said: 'It's just a complete mystery. 

'She's lost a lot of material stuff and everything in the living room has been destroyed.

'But the main thing is that she and Kayden are both okay and that's the most important thing.'

Watch Commander Mich Pollard, who was with the two fire crews who attended the incident, said: 'They were very lucky not to have been at risk of serious injury or death. It was a ferocious blast.

'The stove weighed about 60 pounds and has caused severe damage.

'A gas explosion has been discounted but we're still investigating what caused it.'

Unexplained explosion: Firefighters have discounted a gas explosion and are still investigation what caused the blast at the house in Halifax

Semi-detached property: The wood burning stove brought the chimney breast in the living room down when it propelled across the room

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