SIX VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS FROM EDGERTON, ALBERTA, were hospitalized Monday night following an explosion in a house being used for training burns. The house had been long vacant and used previously for training fires with all precautions taken.
At the property owner’s request, the firefighters were letting the house burn completely down following their training evolutions. There were 12 firefighters involved in the training exercise and they had taken every precaution prior to setting the final blaze around 8 pm. ”The furnace was gone, the lines were gone, the tank was gone. No water, nothing to the house at all. Completely vacant of anything like that,” Wainwright Fire Chief Steve Douglas said. “The house was completely engulfed in flame for approximately for 10 to 15 minutes. At that point, there was a huge explosion,” he said.
CBC News continues:
The force of the blast threw firefighters against their vehicles and left them covered in heavy debris, which scattered as far as 300 metres from the house. It also badly damaged vehicles and firefighting equipment.
One firefighter was airlifted to hospital in Edmonton while five others were taken to nearby hospitals. Their condition was unknown, but Douglas believed that all had been released from hospital, with the exception of the firefighter who was taken to Edmonton.
Debris was strewn for 1,000 feet and the force of the blast knocked the FF’s against their cars. The RCMP is assisting the fire investigators looking for the cause of the blast. There never was any natural gas line to the house and electricity had been cut off several years ago. The pre-burn inspection revealed no evidence of any clandestine drug lab or similar activity. There is nothing left standing from the demolished structure.
Star News
CTV has a video report HERE.
Sources:
The Edmonton Journal HERE.
CanWest News Service HERE.
CBC News HERE.
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