‘It’s like a movie’: Explosion shatters home in Kitchener
Woman killed, man in hospital with critical injuries
KITCHENER — The quiet Forest Heights neighbourhood woke to a scene of devastation Wednesday — a house levelled, fires burning and clouds of smoke billowing from what was left of a single-family home.
Sharee Bailie was in her basement next door when her house shook and the lights went out. She looked out her back window and saw an incredible scene.
“The house next door was down, levelled,” she said. “It was just totally collapsed.”
Fire broke out soon after. “And I knew they were in there,” Bailie said.
One woman was killed and a man critically injured in the 8:10 a.m. blast that destroyed the home at 56 Sprucedale Cres., near Highland Road West and Westheights Drive. The two adjacent
houses were seriously damaged.
The man was airlifted to a Hamilton hospital “in dire medical need,” Waterloo Regional Police deputy chief Kevin Chalk said.
The victims have not been identified. An autopsy on the woman is expected in the next few days.
Chalk said they had “no information to suggest anyone else was in the home.” However, he said crews haven’t been able to get into the heart of the wreckage to confirm if there are other victims.
A cause of the explosion has not yet been determined.
“I just feel so bad,” Bailie said. “It’s surreal. It’s like a movie.”
A couch rested on the roof of a burning home next to the hole where the neighbouring house once stood. A large piece of its roof sat on the driveway next to a badly damaged car. Homeowners were outside picking up shards of glass from their front lawns.
In the moments after the explosion, neighbours rushed to the site to help the man up from the debris-strewn yard and into a lawn chair.
Ellen Hergott, a retired registered nurse, ran from her High Acres Crescent home and saw smoke pouring from the site a block away. She sat with the man and spoke with him until paramedics arrived.
“He was alert and breathing,” said Hergott. “He was probably in shock.”
Neighbours were visibly shaken by the chaos.
“This is horrible,” said Scott Darlow, who joined others in helping the injured man.
“We are quite stricken by this,” he said. “I feel horrible for them.”
It’s also believed a dog perished in the blaze, while another escaped.
Hours after the explosion, Kitchener firefighters were still putting out hot spots as media helicopters circled overhead.
Kitchener Fire Chief Jon Rehill said 32 firefighters responded to the call, and additional crews were called in on overtime to respond to other calls in the city.
Gas, water and electricity were shut off to the neighbourhood, but Rehill said there was no threat to other residences. Sixteen area homes were evacuated; some residents won’t be able to return home for at least two days. The Canadian Red Cross was called in to help displaced residents, and victim services personnel were also at the scene to assist.
Both police and fire officials said it was too early to determine a cause of the explosion. While a damage estimate hasn’t been set, “we are looking at millions,” said Rehill.
Investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal were at the scene, along with electrical safety officials, utilities crews and city engineers.
Darlow, who has lived on nearby Blackwell Drive with his family for 16 years, was sitting in his living room with his brother watching TV when they felt the “huge blast.”
“All I saw was debris in the air,” he said, as he looked out his patio door. He headed two doors down, where a neighbour’s home that backs onto the explosion scene had some of its windows blown out.
Ken Willett, who lives on Sprucedale, was in bed when he heard what sounded like thunder. He thought lightning had struck.
“I went outside and all I could see was a big ball of flame,” he said. “It was horrendous. It was like a snowfall of insulation” on top of nearby parked cars, he said.