ripped through a two-storey home in St. David's.

Two fire trucks and nine personnel attended the fire on Sofar Lane around 6.44 p.m. and had it extinguished in six minutes.

There were no injuries, the spokesman said, although an investigation has begun.

The spokesman said it was too early to give a damage estimate or a cause of the fire but The Royal Gazette understands that initial examinations point to arson. Damage was restricted to the interior of the house.

It is understood a 40-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the blaze.

One eyewitness said St. David's residents Jermaine Fox and Larry Burgess deserved most of the credit for containing the blaze.

The man, who spoke on conditon of anonymity, said Mr. Burgess saw the fire while he was working on the roof of his house, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ladder from his truck and immediately started fighting the second-storey fire with Mr. Fox.

"They had done most of the work by the time the fire trucks arrived,'' the eyewitness said.

Meanwhile in an unrelated incident, a terrific din shook the foundations of houses surrounding the Arctic Air Conditioning yard at Wellbottom, Southampton yesterday afternoon when a liquid propane gas cylinder exploded and was engulfed in flames.

"It was the loudest bang I have ever heard,'' Southampton resident Paul Azzario said.

"My son came in and told me that there was a huge fire in the back yard. I looked down and I could see this huge fire.

"I could see a man down there who had started the fire and I shouted to him to pour water on it but he just ignored me.

"I went back inside and then I heard the loudest noise I have ever heard. It was like a thunder flash going off under my seat. My whole house shook.'' A Fire Services spokesman said they received a call around 4.26 p.m. and 16 men responded.

"We found this hole filled with trash to be burned and there was an explosion because the trash contained a liquid propane gas cylinder which was the source of the noise,'' he said.

Picture: Page 2 CRIME CRM