BBC veteran and wife survive fireball as eco-heater explodes, destroying home near Cardiff

A senior BBC presenter and his wife were engulfed in a fireball and left with horrific burns after their bio ethanol heater exploded in their living room, igniting a blaze that gutted their three-storey home near Cardiff.

Nick Palit, 60, a veteran BBC presenter who fronted BBC Wales Today, and his wife Angela, 59, were taken to hospital by ambulance and treated at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff before being moved to a specialist burns unit at Morriston hospital in Swansea. The couple, who have five children between them, watched as their six-year home on Penarth Marina was consumed by flames from the street.

Angela described the moment she was hurled across the room: "I thought I was dead when I was thrown across the room. My hair was on fire, my face was boiling hot. It was just awful." Nick, who said they were lucky to escape, added: "We were really lucky to both get out alive. Another 30 seconds and we'd have been hit by the fireball."

The couple had bought the fashionable smokeless device about five years ago and used it regularly. On this occasion it began smoking, and Palit tried to shut it down. There were still flames when Angela went to dampen a cloth, and Palit opened a window. Then the device exploded. The blast hurled Angela off her feet, while Palit said he ran to her thinking, "We've got to get out of here." The flames rapidly spread through the living area and up the stairs, and the couple fled to the garden as their home burned.

They were evacuated to hospital and later transferred to a burns unit as doctors treated severe injuries to Palit’s arm and to Angela’s face and hands. After initial treatment, they moved into a nearby vacant rental property while their insurer assesses the damage to the gutted house. Thieves later targeted the empty home, stealing four e-bikes from a garden shed.

Palit, who retired from the BBC newsroom four years ago after a long career that included work on Crimewatch and teaching Rhod Gilbert how to be a journalist in Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience, later used social media to thank family and friends for their support: "We’ve been overwhelmed and humbled by the kindness, care and love of family, friends and neighbours — thanks to all of you we will get through this." The incident has drawn attention to the safety of bio ethanol heaters, which are marketed as clean, renewable energy sources that produce a flame in the home.