EDMONTON – Three men are dead and four people were sent to hospital after a devastating explosion in north Edmonton Sunday afternoon.
The victims have not yet been identified.
At the epicentre of the explosion, only the foundation of a home remains. A second house was also destroyed and two more were knocked off their foundations, said district fire chief Robert D’Aoust.
Investigators don’t yet know what caused the blast. There are no signs that it was a drug lab, D’Aoust said.
The explosion damaged 19 homes scattered across an entire city block. The siding on Tito Perez’s house, more than 200 feet from the epicentre, was buckled by the explosion. Concrete debris smashed a hole in his neighbour’s roof.
Authorities spent Sunday evening picking through the rubble, searching for any sign of life. A search and rescue helicopter also scanned the surrounding area.
The explosion happened at about 1:20 p.m. The force of the blast shook the ground and scattered debris for hundreds of metres surrounding the site. Bystanders said it was felt as far as 12 blocks away.
D’Aoust said one woman and a child were taken to the University of Alberta Hospital with minor injuries. Another woman was treated for shock. One firefighter was suffering from exhaustion, D’Aoust said.
About 70 people were evacuated from the area and are staying with family and friends, he added. One family was helped by the Red Cross to find temporary accommodation.
Kateryna Usova lives about two blocks from the site. Her family heard a bang as "loud as a war starting."
They ran outside and could see a distinct balloon-shaped black cloud hanging over the destroyed house.
Other witnesses described a scene of chaos at the explosion site.
There was debris on the streets and windows, and cars were smashed, said Lindsey Rayner, a licensed nurse practitioner who lives four blocks from the explosion. "People were running about and animals were running wildly, too."
Rayner rushed to the scene after getting a frantic call from her friend, who said his mother had been injured in the explosion. Rayner and Aaron Strohmier went to the scene together. "It was chaotic, like something out of a movie," she said.
"Flames were shooting out of the house," Strohmier added.
Rayner first knew that something was wrong when she heard what sounded like a huge popping sound around 1 p.m. Her friend called shortly afterward and said a house had exploded and that his mother was hurt. Then her friend said, "Please come help me. She’s hurt. She’s hurt. People are hurt."
They went to her friend’s house. The garage was caved in. Shingles were falling off and windows were shattered. Rayner said, "(It’s) just a big huge pile of mess."
They found their friends’ mother sitting under a tree in a state of shock. Rayner had her lay on the ground to stabilize her and waited for paramedics. They said it was a long wait for the ambulance – 15 to 20 minutes. "She was restless and in pain but I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t have anything," Rayner said.
The mother was eventually taken to hospital.
Mathieu Comeault lives close to the home that exploded. He was sitting in his basement when he heard what sounded like a car crash and his house shook. He said his vision momentarily went black. He thought a car or tree fell on his house so he ran outside. There he saw a bunch of debris flying in the air and black smoke.
After he looked outside, he went back in, grabbed his sandals, and ran toward the explosion. There was nothing but the foundation left of the house where the explosion occurred. A mattress had been thrown into the street and a washing machine had barely made it to the road. Comeault said he’s never seen anything like this before in his life.
"I just stopped thinking," he said about what he did next. "It was mostly adrenalin."
Comeault ran to the house to the left of the explosion site and pulled a woman and a son of about six years out of that home. She told him someone else was still inside. So Comeault and another man returned to the house and went into the basement to look for the missing man. "Water was filling the basement," he said. "There was no electricity and no lights. We ran around yelling, using just our phones for lights."
They checked three rooms in the basement and found nothing. At this point they realized it was too dangerous and that they should get out of the house.
Brandon Harrison was having a beer at the Lakeview Pub and Grill when he heard the explosion. The building shook and tiles fell off the roof, he said. Harrison ran out on to the street. He saw a woman, who he estimated to be in her 60s, trapped up to her waist in drywall. He helped her out. Then he said he helped another person out of the house that exploded.
Police have erected barricades blocking off vehicle access to the area. Wire and glass is everywhere, Lamb said.
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