Fatal house explosion rocks Mississauga
About 25 homes were damaged by a house explosion on Hickory Dr. Residents described the scene as looking like “the aftermath of a hurricane.”

thestar.com
June 28, 2016
By Michael Robinson, Alex Ballingall, Robin Levinson King and Jacques Gallant

As one resident simply put it, it looked like a “war zone.”

Residents on a quiet Mississauga street were thrown into shock and confusion on Tuesday afternoon after an explosion at a house on Hickory Dr. that killed one person, wiped out three homes and caused moderate damage to six to eight others.

“It was like pictures from a hurricane...that’s what it looked like. Everything was strewn all over, tons of 2-by-4s, aluminum, bricks,” said Claudio Cugliari.

Although the cause remains under investigation, authorities confirmed that one person had died and nine others assessed for minor injuries. Firefighters were conducting a search and rescue operation Tuesday evening.

In one photo taken by Cugliari, a woman can be seen being carried from a home by a police officer amid the rubble.

“Even my plaza roof shook,” Ijaz Ahmad, owner of nearby Dixie Grocers, told the Star.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said about 50 to 100 people had been taken to a nearby reception centre.

"I assume it was gas-related," Crombie told CP24. "But we shouldn't speculate about its cause."

A man with whom the Star spoke at the police tape line, but who didn't want to be identified, showed the Star images of handwritten letters he said a friend recovered on the street immediately following the blast.

According to a text message conversation, these pieces of paper were collected by the friend on the street in front of the destroyed house, put in a grocery bag and handed off to police.

"Dear God, as of next week everything will fall apart for us," begins the note.

It goes on to say: "We owe mortgage, company, house taxes, water bill, gas bill, hydro bill" and "our outside looks like crap, unkept lawn, overgrown plants, bricks on wall cracking."

The note concludes: "The upstairs bathroom electricity is off, the back bathroom shower has problems and we have No Money to fix or pay anyone."

The note's author is unknown. It is also unclear whether it is related to the explosion.

Asked about the note, Peel Police Const. Rachel Gibbs said it’s "too early to speculate" on what happened Tuesday.

"I can't confirm anything going on with regard to that," she said. "It's still too early in the investigation."

Police on Hickory Dr. were directing residents to hand over any papers or belongings that they had found strewn about the neighborhood.

Chris Chondronikolas, who lives roughly seven houses away from the blast at the north end of Hickory, told the Star that while he did not know who lived in the home described as the epicentre of the blast, the yard wasn't kept up in comparison to the rest of the neighbourhood.

"As a neighbour, I noticed the grass was high, a foot high, and a handful of rolled-up newspapers at the bottom of the door."

Firefighters and police remained on scene Tuesday evening, evacuating the area.

“We are working to stabilize the scene, and part of that requires the gas line to be shut off. We are looking at 58 homes which may be affected by that,” Platoon Chief Alan Hills told a small crowd of residents at the scene.

“Our biggest action is to get the gas lines shut off.”

He added that about 18 homes had various degrees of structural damage, such as broken doors and windows.

Fire Chief Tim Beckett told reporters Tuesday evening that public access to the outer perimeter of the scene - comprising about 700 homes - remains off limits.

“The investigation from a fire perspective has not actually started yet until we have the scene safe,” he said.

“We’re definitely going to be here overnight and it's going to be a long day tomorrow for investigators. Until we deem that area safe for the public, there just won't be access. I can't predict if it will be hours, days or weeks at this point.”

He said individuals in those homes are either required to shelter in place or leave. Beckett confirmed it is typical for explosion to be felt several kilometres away and that the air quality is good.

Filippo Ciufo, 71, who has lived near the destroyed house for 40 years, said he was in his basement when he heard a loud boom.

“I didn’t see my neighbour. His house is no more. It’s destroyed,” Ciufo said, dried blood on his head. His wife suffered a broken finger.

“My son took my wife to the hospital. The roof was on the floor.”

Una Petkovic had just lit a cigarette as she sat on a chair in her verdant backyard, staring across the roofs of neighbouring homes toward the northeast.

Then the ground started shaking.

"I thought it was an earthquake," she said, describing the seconds before the explosion, which knocked her off the chair and onto the ground.

"It was scary...There was a cloud of dust with pieces of wood and concrete. You could feel the taste of dust in your mouth."

Petkovic said she ran around her house and saw that vinyl window frames had fallen on the lawn and the eavestroughs on homes across the street had been knocked off.

Buses took evacuees to nearby Burnhamthorpe Community Centre, which was turned into a reception area, but Crombie said displaced residents should try to find friends or family to stay with overnight.

“It may last more than one night; we don't know yet," Crombie said.

A gas leak in a home may occur due to aging infrastructure or incorrect insulation, a natural gas expert told the Star.

“Aside from corrosion, aging infrastructure, something as small has setting up a fence and hitting a pipe could cause a gas leak,” said Mark McDonald, president of Boston-based NatGas Consulting.

According to McDonald, home explosions like the one in Mississauga could have been caused either by an undetected gas leak or a meth lab. If it is a gas leak, it is considered a "high-level explosion" because an entire home was leveled and many neighboring homes were affected.

By the numbers

1 Confirmed fatality

3 Homes destroyed

9 People treated for minor injuries

58 Number of homes where the gas has been turned off

50-100 Number of people evacuated from the scene