Laval house explosion baffles neighbours

MONTREAL – When Kahina Abdessemed moved here from Algeria eight years ago, it was to escape the violence and terrorism that plagued her homeland.

Early Sunday morning, with a raging inferno burning just across the street from her home in Laval after a huge explosion destroyed her neighbour’s home, Abdessemed had to remind herself which country she was in.

"It was so surreal," she said Monday as a police backhoe dug through the charred remains of the home on du Coteau St. in the St. François district of Laval. "It was like an American action movie was happening on my street."

The blast, which occurred at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, has left the owner of the home recovering from serious burns to 40 per cent of his body and neighbours reeling from an unexpected explosion that rocked the quiet cul-de-sac.

All that is left of the home is the concrete foundation and an above-ground pool, reminiscent of happier days.

The owner of the home, Pierre Jean-Claude Nicolas, 46, was seriously injured in the blast, which police seem certain was a criminal act as accelerant was found at the scene. He is in an induced coma in hospital and is expected to remain that way for two or three weeks because the pain is so powerful, said Sgt. François Dumais of Laval Police. However, he is expected to recover from his injuries.

The mystery now for police investigators is why Nicolas’s home was targeted; he is not known to police and has no criminal record, according to Dumais. He is a real-estate agent who is separated from his wife and, according to neighbours, has two daughters and a son.

Now, he will forever be known in the neighbourhood as the man whose house blew up. Curious spectators, young and old, were continually lining up at the orange police tape around the home Monday to witness for themselves the destruction that had occurred on a nondescript residential street lined by modest bungalows, the kind of street where kids leave their flip flops outside the front door and hopscotch boards are drawn on driveways.

"Everyone is just so shocked," said Roch Corbin, who lives around the corner and stopped at the site for a second time Monday because he found the event so startling.

The victim’s wife, Marieclaire Bois, said Monday she felt like she was in a bad dream.

"I can’t think of any motive," she said. Nicolas’s 18-year-old daughter, Ruth, said her father was in the midst of renovating the home and always kept up with payments.

"It was such a shock when my brother called and said the house had exploded," Ruth said. "I’ve had such good times in that house with my father."

Glass from the explosion was strewn down the length of the block and the smell of smoke permeated the air around the house Monday. Neighbour Thérèse Lacasse said she was awakened by the blast and looked outside to see the house lit up like a torch. By the time firefighters arrived, about 15 minutes later, she said, there was nothing left of the house.

Lisa Laude lives next door and her roof was damaged in the blast.

"The explosion woke my daughter," she said. "We looked outside and the house was half gone. I grabbed my kids and we got in the car."

She said her house was shaking and her 4-year-old daughter was worried about what would happen to her toys.

Abdessemed was the only neighbour who seemed to have an acquaintance with Nicolas. She said he always seemed nice enough. With her vantage point looking right at the house through a picture window in her living room, she was the first to call 911.

"I told them that if anyone was inside, they couldn’t have survived," she recounted yesterday. "Then I saw him come out. He was burned from head to toe, his clothes had melted on to him. He was crying in pain."

Her sympathy, however, has given rise to suspicion and anger after police are saying the explosion was a criminal act.

"If someone is involved in bad things they shouldn’t come to a street like this, with young families and children," she said. "This disturbs me. You have to think of your neighbours."

kseidman@thegazette.canwest.com