THUNDER BAY — The daughter of a Thunder Bay man who barely escaped with his life when a natural gas explosion rocked the family's home says he told her the blast happened after he flicked a lighter in the basement of the Crown Street residence.
"He went down to the basement to re-set the WiFi router...He flicked his lighter, and all of a sudden it just went boom," Jill Beverly said Tuesday in an interview with Newswatch.
The blast and ensuing fire happened at 6 Crown Street just before noon Sunday, and left the two-and-a-half storey brick dwelling levelled.
According to her dad, "As soon as he flicked his lighter, a whole ball of flame came out of the utility room...He said he hit the floor and didn't get knocked unconscious or anything."
Beverly said her father received burn injuries to his head, an eye and his hands, and lost his eyelashes.
"Then he saw everything slowly starting to catch fire. The windows were all shattered. He went up the basement stairs, and there was already debris on the stairs. When he got to the top, the door to the back was already blown out, and everything in the living room was catching fire. As soon as he was on the back patio, he said, the bricks just started falling."
An investigator from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office was on the scene Tuesday to probe the cause of the explosion, but there's a lot of debris to remove from the basement.
Beverly speculated "It has to be the gas pipes coming in. We have an indirect-fired water heater because it's old radiators in the house. The first thing they asked was 'Were there gas appliances?' And I said 'No, the stove and everything's electric.' The only thing was the gas for the hot water and, I guess, to heat the house."
She added that her dad had told her there were also some old gas lines left in place in the basement and capped off at some point before the family bought it three years ago.
Beverly said her father informed her he started using his lighter as a flashlight at various times beginning Saturday night because the power had gone off in the house.
The 66-year-old man lived on the main floor, while his daughter and son occupied the second and third floors respectively.
Beverly and her fiancé had been in the basement themselves on Saturday sorting through Christmas decorations, but her dad was the only one home on Sunday morning.
She and her partner were at his residence decorating their tree when the alarming news came through that something had gone terribly wrong back on Crown Street.
It was a neighbour phoning to tell her the house had exploded, while reassuring her that her father had got out safely.
When she arrived at the scene from the other side of town she found her dad in an ambulance, bandaged and pale, but was relieved to hear paramedics say he would be okay.
"It's like he had a guardian angel" that day, Beverly said.
She, her fiancé and her dad are living under the same roof at her partner's home for now, and at least until arrangements are completed with their insurance company.
Beverly said it may be possible to rebuild, but there's no decision yet.
She said she's grateful to the support the family has received from the community.
Good friend Lucy Butcher has set up a GoFundMe campaign that had raised close to $12,000 toward a $15,000 goal by late Tuesday afternoon.
"They just lost everything...not just sentimental stuff but everyday essential things, and it's right before the holidays. I know insurance will come in, but I mean they still need help rebuilding their lives and everything," Butcher said.
She called the rapid response from across Thunder Bay "amazing."
