massive explosion - canmore

[FishingMOM]

Anyone there?
Homes damaged
News to come Global news

[GermanHunter]

Sound like a gas Explosion. Was at the tire. Whole building was shaking. Explosion was down town I guess. 3-4 Blocks from the tire. Just pass there 1 hour before Explosion.

[BHunt]

I was at Cdn Tire too. Explosion put cloud 300m into the sky and shook the shelves inside the store. RCMP have area 1 block south of old folks home closed down.

Natural gas explosion, Meth lab, or grad stunt????

Hope nobody was hurt - but wow - my wife heard and felt it in HH over 2 km away.

[bb356]

bummer

[FishingMOM]

13th street in canmore

Several people injured
More to come.

[bb356]

Originally Posted by FishingMOM

13th street in canmore

Several people injured
More to come.

Not good to hear

[FishingMOM]

Seniors lodge involved from what's being said.

[CaberTosser]

I'm seeing notes stating it was adjacent a seniors lodge, but some people tagging their photos as a 'house explosion'. Poorly stored propane in the basement? Natural gas ? or the already noted meth lab?....

[FishingMOM]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I'm seeing notes stating it was adjacent a seniors lodge, but some people tagging their photos as a 'house explosion'. Poorly stored propane in the basement? Natural gas ? or the already noted meth lab?....

Witness said there was construction going on, said a machine hit gasline.

[FishingMOM]

from Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald
Published on: June 26, 2015 | Last Updated: June 26, 2015 6:44 PM MDT


A house next to the Bow River Senior Citizens’ Lodge in Canmore exploded on Friday evening, sending debris and smoke into the air and shaking houses several blocks away.

The home, which was near 13 Street and Fairholm Drive, appeared to have been levelled, along with one next door. Windows of others nearby were blown out.

“It looks like a gas explosion but we’re not sure,” said Sally Caudill, a spokesperson for the town of Canmore.


EMS spokesperson Adam Loria confirmed that one person had been transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He says crews from Banff, Canmore and Nakoda were called to the scene just after 5 p.m. Friday.

“Crews are still at the scene assessing,” he said.

Caudill said staff at the lodge, which is currently under construction, reported that everyone there was safe.

Canmore resident Al Girard was on his way to pick up his girlfriend who works at the lodge when he heard the explosion. He says he and a few others nearby went into the homes across the street from the scene to look for victims.

“We went through all the houses, all the rooms and checked and made sure there was no one around, because there was glass,” Girard said.

“Their houses are destroyed inside … There was one gentleman who hit the floor. Me and the EMS and a few of the other guys went in there, we picked him up and got him out.”

Emergency crews blocked off access to the area following the incident. A number of residents of the Bow River Senior Citizens’ Lodge were temporarily displaced.

[Spidey]

It was a very busy night for responders in Canmore last night. One house is now completely gone and looks like a few immediately surrounding it will also have to be assessed. No significant injuries - which blows my mind. This could have been so much worse. Our house is over 4km away as the crow flies and it felt like a 100lb rock was dropped on our roof.

Thumper, if I recall, lives near downtown. I'll bet he will have a much closer-to-the-scene perspective. Hope your house is OK!

Updates from the town:

http://www.canmore.ca/

[score]

Thank goodness no one was hurt bad....

[duster243]

Originally Posted by FishingMOM

Anyone there?
Homes damaged
News to come Global news

I'm in canmore right now and felt the shake yestersay when I was swimming in our hotels pool. The air duct and piping moved a lot in the ceiling. Some crap fell in the pool to.

[FishingMOM]

From todays news 40 people injured.
But if the seniors weren't at dinner on the other side of the building it would have been horrific. So it was amazing that everyone was safe per say.

A gasline was hit during construction which atco is investigating.

Glad your family is safe spidey!

[Spidey]

Spent the day yesterday supporting responders and families with first round of clean-up and removing valuables from homes. The pictures from the media don't really capture just how devastating the damage is. There are about 7 or 8 houses that are questionable as to whether they will be structurally sound enough to do repairs. My heart goes out to these families. It seems like a very tight neighborhood and people are helping one another as best as possible. I sincerely hope all insurance companies step up to the plate.

In speaking with the manager of the seniors' lodge, all residents were seated at their meal, except one when the blast went off. That person fell but was ok. It's very fortunate they were in the central dining room and all seated.