Explosion in the basement: 65-year-old injured in house fire!

A dramatic incident occurred on Thursday evening, February 20, 2025, when a devastating fire broke out in a single-family home on Bürgstrasse in Neuhaus. At around 6:45 p.m., a 65-year-old Swiss man lit a heater in his basement and supplied additional gas from a gas bottle. This caused the fire to quickly get out of control and spread throughout the basement before the gas cylinder finally exploded, as did both VOL.AT as well as sg.ch report.

When the man returned, he was stopped by a thick layer of smoke. Fortunately, the emergency services reacted quickly: around 61 firefighters arrived to rescue him from the danger zone and put out the raging fire. Despite these rescue measures, the 65-year-old suffered unspecified injuries and had to be taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Significant property damage and investigations

The material damage amounts to tens of thousands of francs. While the source of the fire was moved back to the basement, the Forensics Competence Center of the St. Gallen Cantonal Police took over the investigation to clarify the cause of the fire. In addition to the police, medical personnel from the emergency services and a representative of the community were also at the scene.