Blast, fire on Westside leave 1 dead, 3 injured
Online fundraising campaign launched in aid of couple who lived in home and are now in critical condition
A man is dead following an explosion and fire at a home in West Kelowna Wednesday night.
Around 9:30 p.m., firefighters were called to 3008 Elliott Rd. after nearby residents reported multiple explosions with flames and smoke coming from the home.
On arrival, crews from the Westbank fire station found the home engulfed in flames and multiple occupants with serious injuries.
Crews fought the fire from outside the building due to structural damage and the risk of further explosions.
“Once we determined it had been part of an explosion, we can’t guarantee the structural safety of it, so I wasn’t going to let any crews in,” said assistant fire chief Chad Gartrell. “We decided to dismantle (the home) with an excavator, then put out the fire piece by piece as we took it down.”
Four adults were in the home at the time, including tenants Chiara Boehlke and Aleck Villeneuve.
Boehlke and Villeneuve were airlifted to Vancouver and remained in critical condition Thursday afternoon.
One of the other men died from his injuries, and another person was released with minor injuries.
While crews were fighting the fire, they found one man trapped in the basement.
“He was verbal when the crew got there,” said Gartrell. “We grabbed him and carried him up the stairs.”
Nearby resident Rob Hayward said he was standing outside the home when firefighters carried the man outside.
“He was burnt from end to end,” he said. “Hair gone, clothes gone, skin boiling. I couldn’t believe it.”
The scene Wednesday night was chaotic, said Gartrell.
“There were a lot of people who were injured, plus bystanders who were helping the people. It was pretty difficult to determine who was helping and who needed help, and the house was pushing fire from all openings, so it was a large amount of fire to deal with as well.”
Hayward said he could feel the explosion from his home up the road.
“I suddenly heard what I thought was a tree fall on my house,” he said. “It shook the whole house. It felt like the whole house came off the ground and came back down.”
Hayward went outside to assess the damage and saw a tree had not fallen, but one of the windows of his shop had shattered from the explosion.
He then saw flames shooting up from the neighbour’s house.
“Within 10 minutes, the fire department and RCMP were there,” said Hayward. “I walked down the road and it was still exploding, but the (first explosion) took most of the roof off. It was incredible.”
Jim Harding also heard the explosion from his house a couple of blocks up the road.
“We heard a big bang,” he said. “Sitting on our back deck, my wife said she could see flames. You couldn’t pick out exactly which house it was until this morning.”
Boehlke and Villeneuve had lived in the home since February 2015, said owner Sarwan Gidda.
Gidda was in bed at his Smith Creek Road home less than a kilometre away when he heard the explosion.
“I thought someone fell out of bed,” he said. “But my daughter lives adjacent to that property . . . and she phoned me.”
When Gidda got to the residence, he was shocked by what he saw.
“It was totally engulfed in flames,” he said. “Now there’s nothing standing.”
Gidda lived in the Elliott Road home from 1980 to 1994.
“All my kids were born in that house,” he said. “It’s seen some good times there. It’s part of me.”
The home had a main floor and half a basement, and was likely built in the 1940s or ’50s, said Gidda. “When I moved there in 1980, it was an old house.” Investigators have not revealed the cause of the fire, but Gidda speculated it may have been caused by an exploding propane tank.
“They may have been barbecuing or something,” he said, adding the hot water and the furnace were run by natural gas.
In almost 40 years, there have been no problems with the natural gas, said Gidda.
He described Boehlke and Villeneuve as good tenants who never caused problems and always paid their rent. “They were nice, friendly people,” he said. Gidda said he has house insurance. Boehlke’s sister Jordan started a GoFundMe page for the couple at gofundme.com/west-kelowna-houseexplosion.
“They did not have rental insurance and the fire took everything,” she wrote. “They will also be incurring costs in Vancouver during recovery but don’t have the savings to cover it.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the page had raised more than $1,100.
The investigation has been turned over to the RCMP to determine the cause and origin of the fire.
Investigators will remain at the property for the next few days to collect evidence.
Anyone with information is asked to contact West Kelowna RCMP at 250-768-2880 or Crime Stoppers at 1800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.