MEDICINE HAT, AB – One home is destroyed and two others suffered extensive damage following an explosion and fire in the city’s northeast on Wednesday morning.
Calls of an explosion at 20 Hudson Way NE came in at around 9:40 am, with a fire following soon after.
Terry Fish was on the phone in his truck two houses down, when he felt the impact of the blast.
“I heard this huge explosion, my girlfriend came running out, and I jumped out of my truck,” said Fish. “The windows were just hanging out of the house, the door, and also I noticed the gas fireplace was kind of hanging out the side too.”
All active and off-duty members with the Medicine Hat Fire Department were called to Hudson Way and arrived shortly after, and immediately began dousing the building with water.
Medicine Hat Fire issued a ‘full recall,’ which is their most extreme command aside from asking for mutual aid from other departments.
Deputy Fire Chief Lance Purcell said with the unstable roofs, hot spots were difficult to access.
“Most of the issue was of course fires were in the attic in two of the buildings,” said Purcell. “The main structure is a total loss, and the other ones have had significant roof damage.”
It took crews around an hour to get the fire under control, and another hour to fully extinguish the blaze just before noon.
No one was injured in the two adjacent homes, while crews haven’t been cleared to investigate the third building and won’t have confirmation until at least Thursday.
The fire jumped quickly to the adjacent buildings due to their close proximity, though Purcell said they’re lucky wind wasn’t a factor.
“We were able to put a truck in between the fire buildings and the alleyway, to secure that there was no fire spread to the downwind side.”
There is no word on estimated damage, as fire crews continue to sift through the rubble to find a cause.
Craig Carolan lives nearby and said it’s shocking to have this type of incident happen just a few hundred feet away.
“It’s pretty crazy, you always hear about stories like this in bigger cities and it kind of hits close to home,” said Carolan. “So, hoping everyone is okay, everyone was out of the houses, and we’ll get through this alright.”
Fire crews are expected to remain on scene for most of Wednesday afternoon and evening.
