Images courtesy Ted Tiboni
THUNDER BAY — Safety concerns have led to the termination of the on-site investigation into the explosion and fire that wrecked a residence on Crown Street on Sunday.
"We've had to conclude the investigation...It was just too hard to get the machine in there, and you know, walls were going to fall down," Kevin Anderson of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue said Wednesday afternoon.
The fire department and the Ontario Fire Marshal's office had hoped an excavator would be able to remove the rubble necessary to allow a proper examination of the blast site, but it turned out that wasn't feasible.
According to the family that owned the two-and-a-half storey brick home, the explosion happened when the lone occupant flicked a lighter so he could see better while rebooting a WiFi router in the basement.
Anderson, TBFR's captain of fire prevention & investigation, said the fire marshal's office was leading the investigation.
"They have to look at the whole building, and it just wasn't going to happen with the machinery that we had, and the space...It just wasn't working, unfortunately."
With the work concluded, what happens next is up to the homeowners and their insurance company.
"They may have their own investigator once they are able to dig it up, but I'm not sure if that will happen now, or when that will happen," Anderson said.
