Doctor, wife killed in blast
Scene of Summerland home explosion littered with debris, household items
EDITOR’S NOTE: In recognition of Canada’s 150th anniversary, The Herald is reprinting historic stories from the South Okanagan focusing on the biggest news story of each year.
JUNE 20, 2002: A team of investigators is sifting through the splintered remains of a home that exploded in Summerland Tuesday morning.
There are still no answers as to what caused the early morning blast that reduced a gracious, two-storey family home to rubble, killing its two occupants.
The office of the Fire Commissioner, the RCMP, the B.C. Gas Safety Branch and B.C. Gas were at the Giant’s Head Road property Wednesday, where retired physician Dr. George Morrison, 77, and his wife Colleen, 76, died.
The authorities were assisting Summerland fire Chief Lloyd Miskiman.
“We spent the entire day yesterday looking for and trying to recover the bodies,” Miskiman told media on the site Wednesday afternoon. The department was assisted by members of the Penticton Search and Rescue and by the office of the coroner on Tuesday.
“We actually started the body recovery at about 2:30 (p.m.),” said the exhausted fire chief. “We took it slow. We took it carefully. It was a very difficult situation for the rescuers.”
A critical incident stress team will debrief some 20 workers who were at the scene Tuesday.
The body of a woman was discovered inside the ruins of the house at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and the body of a man was found about an hour later. The woman’s body was located in what would have been a bedroom in the north side of the house, and the man’s was discovered three or four metres away, said Miskiman. Dental records will be used for a positive identification and autopsies will be done this week at Penticton Regional Hospital. Dr. Larry Achtem is the coroner on the case. Earlier reports from a neighbour who said he saw a tree fall against the house during a lightning storm about six hours prior to the explosion were not confirmed. “I saw no tree,” said Miskiman. As well, Miskiman could neither confirm nor deny rumours that a new gas furnace had been recently installed. “There are no theories,” he said. “We do not know what caused the explosion at this point. There’s a lot of data. There’s a lot a material.” Trees surrounding the charred basement — all that remains of the large, woodframe home built in 1911 — are hung with pink insulation, scraps of wood and plaster, ribbons of plastic and other debris. Scattered throughout the blast scene are common household items — a tray filled with coloured spools of thread, singed clothing still on hangers, paintings in twisted frames, books, magazines, a woman’s shoe, the clay bust of a child’s head, a silver tea set, a book with a red, cloth cover bearing the words Doc George.
A line of orange plastic cones between the home and the still-standing detached garage to the north indicates the route taken by the natural gas line into the house. Gas experts at the scene said the line is buried 12-18 inches deep.
In the covered carport on the north side of the garage, away from the main force of the blast, the couple’s two vehicles sit mostly intact — a newer, gold Honda Accord with a smashed rear window and an older Nissan pickup with a canopy.
An antique, upholstered chair lies overturned on the bank leading to Happy Valley Road below the house. Materials from the blast are spread 200 metres to the east and west of the home. To the north and south, debris was not carried quite so far.
“This is a very tragic situation,” said Miskiman. “Our department has not dealt with an explosion of this magnitude. It has been a very trying experience.”
The on-site investigation is expected to last two or three days, possibly longer, said the fire chief. Conclusive answers could take six to eight weeks.
“George was just a wonderful neighbour,” said neighbour Ed Lansell. “They were a wonderful people.
“Colleen was heavily involved in the Heart and Stroke (Foundation) and a member of the University Women’s Guild.”
Lansell said that when Joan was sick, George, a retired doctor, would come over to help.
“He was that kind of a caring person. He wasn’t cold and distant. He had a nice personality.”
The couple moved to Summerland in 1969.