A cat was killed and a house rendered “uninhabitable” when an Angus girl attempted to light a fire with an aerosol after watching a YouTube tutorial.
Carnoustie man Ricky Niven has told of his relief that his daughter was unharmed after attempting the feat.
He said the 13-year-old stepped out of her room just before the can exploded and started a fire.
According to firefighters she had been trying to light a log fire by using a naked flame and a can of hairspray in the Links Avenue home’s living room prior to the incident on Saturday.
“The log fire is in the living room so we don’t know how the fire was able to start in the bedroom,” said Mr Niven.“According to my daughter she left the bedroom and heard the bang.
“My daughter is OK.”
The family’s pet cat, Magic, died from smoke inhalation.
After the alarm was raised at 3.38pm firefighters from the nearby Carnoustie station and also from Balmossie used breathing apparatus and two hosereel jets to put out the fire.
The girl was treated for shock.
Carnoustie fire station manager Stuart Cuthill said he was told the girl had watched a YouTube video which showed that a quick way to light a fire was to hold a naked flame up to an aerosol can.
He said: “She attempted to do this a couple of times and it didn’t work.
“The teenager went to the living room for a short while and when she returned to the bedroom a fire had developed and it was out of hand. She initially tried to put it out by getting pots of water from the kitchen.
“When this failed she called the fire brigade and got herself out of the property, which was the right thing to do.”
Mr Niven, 52, praised a neighbour who rushed to help.
“He managed to shut the doors in the house to stop it spreading before the fire brigade got here which was very commendable,” he said.
“There’s quite a lot of damage. The bedroom has been destroyed and two other bedrooms are heavily smoke damaged. The house is now uninhabitable.”
Mr Niven, who has lived in Carnoustie for 30 years, said that the death of his cat was a “big loss”.
He added that he could not find the YouTube video in his daughter’s internet search history.
However, Mr Cuthill said: “The website had recommended using hair products. These products should not be used near naked flames.”