Investigators probe deadly overnight blast at house
Fire investigators on scene trying to determine cause of early morning blast
Police say one person was killed after a Clarence Avenue home exploded overnight, leaving a smoking pit in its wake and causing damage to nearby houses.
Just before 4 a.m. Saturday, Saskatoon Police say two patrol officers noticed a home on fire in the 2200 block of Clarence Avenue South.
An explosion could be heard as officers approached the home, which then started fires at two neighbouring properties.
Around the same time, the Saskatoon Fire Department was receiving multiple calls in regard to the explosion, Fire Chief Morgan Hackl said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
The home had been levelled by the time crews arrived, with vehicles, a detached garage and a home nextdoor fully on fire.
Hackl said a body was found in the basement of the home at around 7:11 a.m. Crews were told the home had one resident, but it's unknown if anyone else was present, he said.
“So at this time, we have located this one body, we have been told that there was only one person that lived in this house,” Hackl said. “But the piece we cannot confirm, of course, if there was somebody in that home with this resident at that time.”
Deborah Hretsina, who lives a few houses down the street, said a man who appeared to be middle-aged lived in the home.
Hretsina said she was awoken early Saturday morning by a bang, then the sound of sirens coming down the street.
Living near a fire station and on a main thoroughfare commonly used by emergency vehicles, at first she didn't think too much of it. But the sirens kept coming and coming, she recalled. They all stopped nearby. Then, another bang.
Seeing police and her neighbours gathering outside, Hretsina went out into the street.
“The house was engulfed in flames,” she said. “I hadn't seen anything on fire like that in my life, so to see something like that, it's overwhelming.”
As she and her neighbours stood outside looking at the wreckage, a thought came to mind.
“I thought, `Oh my gosh. If he's in there, he's gone,' ” Hretsina said.
Investigators are currently working to determine the cause and circumstances around the explosion and are currently unable to determine where it started.
All of the debris from the fire was either blown away from the home's foundation by the force of the blast or entered into the basement, Hackl said.
Secondary explosions occurred afterward, determined to be from vehicles and their tires exploding. A number of vehicles were parked in the home's driveway and back yard. Hackl said the force of the blast propelled the gable ends of the home and part of the roof up onto the roofs of the neighbouring homes. The front walls of the home were shot onto the lawn and the entire front window jamb was blown out of its structure onto the street. “There was a lot of force with that explosion,” Hackl said.
It's quite probable the explosion was somehow accelerated and there's a “probability” that natural gas was involved.
That's yet to be determined by fire investigators, he added. Saskenergy has been called to the scene.
From his knowledge, the department did not have any previous interactions with the home.
As of Saturday afternoon, most residents who had been evacuated were able to return to their homes, except for residents of the neighbouring home. A total of 29 firefighters and 13 different apparatus attended the scene.
Traffic restrictions are in place while crews remain on scene and the public is asked to stay away from the area.