The explosion and fire has displaced several residents, and the cause remains under investigation as families weather the tragedy
An explosion and fire at a northeast Calgary townhouse complex on the weekend has left several residents with nowhere to call home.
Around 11 p.m. on Saturday, fire crews responded to the 0-100 block of Las Americas Villas N.E., in the community of Monterey Park.
Six people were taken to hospital following the blaze — one in life-threatening condition, one in serious condition and four in stable condition.
“My uncle’s home was one of the homes that burned completely,” said Mirella Bautista, Mario’s niece.
Bautista has since taken in Mario and his family to live with them while things get sorted out.
The family is recovering from burns, but thankfully they’re all alive, said Bautista, who laid out her uncle’s account of the incident in an interview with Postmedia.
Mario was getting ready for bed when the explosion rattled the house.
“All the furniture and the bed, it all shifted, so it was like a big bang,” Bautista said. “The closet doors fell down, the furniture moved in the room.”
After escaping the bedrooms, they exited to see doors to other rooms knocked off their hinges.
“When they ran down to the downstairs living area, their kitchen was already in flames,” she said.
‘They have absolutely nothing’
Furniture in the living area had blocked off the main door to the house, but Bautista says their TV was flung through a window by the explosion.
“Luckily, by the grace of God, they were able to get out of that window. Because if not, they would have been completely trapped in there,” she said.
The family escaped with nothing but the clothes on their back.
“Absolutely everything burned to the ground. They have absolutely nothing,” she said.
As for Mario’s neighbours, Bautista said one of the homes that burned down was vacant, as the family that lived there was out of town.
“The other two people in the middle house, where the explosion came from — they’re still in the hospital, and they’re a couple,” she said.
Units gone in a matter of minutes, says resident
Another neighbour affected by the incident, Owen Defoe, was on the scene Monday morning.
“It’s like a war zone, almost, right? I’m still trying to come to grips with it,” said Defoe.
He was at home with his wife and two young kids on Saturday night.
“Just a boom, just massive. I ran up from the basement; all the gyprock from our unit was pretty much off the walls,” Defoe said.
Running out to the front of his house to the sight of smoke and flames engulfing two units, he went to get his family out, later going back to help those escaping a neighbouring unit.
“I pulled the one from the middle to the side, and the second neighbours came out as well from their window, because everything was shattered at this point, and we all pretty much got to safety,” he said.
“In about 10, 15 minutes, the units were gone.”
Defoe has no clue what may have caused the explosion, and a Calgary Fire Department spokesperson said Monday it remains under investigation.
“I didn’t lose everything because I still have my family, right? This could have gone tremendously, tremendously bad,” Defoe said.
The Defoes are living with Owen’s parents temporarily.
“When the fire happened, all we had is our shirt and our socks on,” he said. “Four houses are gone.”
— With files from Gavin Young