Massive explosion destroys Transcona home, others catch fire Blast ‘blew me right up off the floor’: next-door neighbour By: Malak Abas Posted: 1:08 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024 Last Modified: 4:06 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024 Updates

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A “catastrophic” explosion rocked a quiet suburban Winnipeg neighbourhood Wednesday morning, levelling one home, damaging others and forcing nearby residents to flee.

The explosion happened on Camrose Bay in Transcona at 11:19 a.m., deputy Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service chief Scott Wilkinson told journalists at the scene about 90 minutes later.

Only the foundation of the house that exploded remained standing after the blast.

Firefighters used aerial ladder trucks to blast water on the burning home from above. The situation was declared under control at 1:08 p.m.

The WFPS is still trying to contact anyone who lived in the home, and could not confirm if they were home at the time of the explosion.

“There were no injuries in the surrounding homes, but we’re still trying to account for the occupants of the original home that exploded,” Wilkinson said, calling the explosion “catastrophic.”

The most recent registered owner of 35 Camrose Bay, the site of the explosion, is an Earnest Gerrard Prescotte. He has owned it since 2017.

Firefighters helped evacuate some residents of neighbouring homes, while other residents were able to shelter in place. Crews completed a search of the damaged homes and rescued a dog.

The explosion and resulting fires caused significant damage to several neighbouring homes, the WFPS said.

“There are a few homes that will not be occupiable after this,” Wilkinson said.

The deputy chief said it’s too soon to know what caused the explosion.

“We have a significant amount of damage and debris from this investigation, so it’s going to take a lot of documentation and a lot of person hours on scene to pick through the debris on the scene,” he said.

“It’ll be days or weeks, likely, before we can come to a definitive cause.”

While residents of most homes will be able to return to their homes Wednesday, Wilkinson said the two houses surrounding the site of the explosion are uninhabitable.

Next-door neighbour Karl Lent lives in one of those homes. He called the explosion and ensuing panic “chaos.”

He was home alone cleaning his bike in his garage when he said he was rocked by a large explosion followed by a smaller one.

“It felt … like an earthquake,” he said.

Lent quickly rushed to make sure neighbours were out of their home. He said he doesn’t know the person who lives at 35 Camrose Bay, but he saw a man leave the home Wednesday morning — but “he comes and goes, I don’t know if he came back home,” he said.

“You don’t know what to say. My legs are still shaking,” he said. “It felt like it blew me right up off the floor. I’ve never felt an explosion like that.”

Lent surveyed the damage in a cellphone video shared with the Free Press.

The video shows flames near a propane tank attached to Lent’s barbecue in his backyard. Debris — including burnt fibreglass, flyers, a binder, a laundry basket, cardboard boxes and what appears to be a calendar — is seen strewn across his front lawn and that of the house that exploded.

The rear window of Lent’s Chevy Trailblazer, which was parked on the street, was blown out in the blast.

Lent said he’s not sure when, or if, he’ll be able to return to the home where he’s lived for 27 years. He’ll stay with family for now.

“What do I do next? Where do I go?” he said. “I can’t go back in there. The back corner of the house is apparently gone.”

Brandi Neves, who lives near where the explosion happened, rushed home in a “mad panic,” worried for the two puppies she had staying in kennels in her basement. A police officer let her in to retrieve her dogs and they are safe.

“My neighbour had called me and she was hysterically screaming, telling me I need to get home immediately, the house had exploded and they were evacuating everyone from our street,” she said.

She said an “old gentleman” lives in the home, but did not know him well.

“We are all hoping that he left this morning, that’s what somebody had said,” she said. “We’re hoping that nobody was in the house, but we are yet to be told for sure if that’s the case.”

It has been a frightening and distressing time for everyone in the neighbourhood, she said.

“It was quite the explosion, I’ve heard from friends that live probably two miles away, and they felt it at their house,” she said. “I’m kind of glad I wasn’t home, because I think I would have really had some PTSD from this.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca