‘It is believed the man intentionally set a fire within his home using an accelerant, causing the explosion and subsequent fire,’ said police
A resident of the townhouse complex that was rocked by an explosion and fire over the weekend has been charged with arson, police said Tuesday.
Several families are facing uncertainty after their homes were left uninhabitable.
Six were injured during the incident and taken to hospital.
“It is believed the man intentionally set a fire within his home using an accelerant, causing the explosion and subsequent fire,” read a news release from police late Tuesday afternoon.
Gavin Peter Robinson, 40, is charged with arson and disregard for human life.
Robinson will appear in court on Wednesday. Police say they anticipate further charges.
Fundraisers set up for families
Ivania Rugama and Mario Bautista were among the six people taken to hospital following the blaze, along with Mario’s stepson, Lenin Pastran, who is still in hospital with severe burns.
Helen Pena, Rugama’s niece, described the past few days as a “roller-coaster of emotions” for the family.
“We’re all thankful that they’re still alive, but it’s hard to be relying on everyone else to help,” Pena said. “That uncertainty kind of has them really down.
“They don’t know how they’re going to come out of this,” she said.
Based on her aunt’s account, Pena says the explosion came out of nowhere.
“There (were) no signs of something like this going to happen and, of course, they’ve been in shock ever since,” she said.
Other residents had ‘no idea’ what the cause was
Three of the townhomes were destroyed, while a fourth has been deemed uninhabitable.
Owen Defoe and his wife, Ashley, along with their two young kids, are among those who lost everything when they fled their charred unit following the explosion.
On Monday, while visiting what remained of their home, Owen said: “It’s like a war zone, almost, right? I’m still trying to come to grips with it.”
Like the other victims of the blaze, Owen had no clue what caused the explosion.
Pena said, “I think it just rattled all of us.”
Residents had said previously that a couple lived in the house at the source of the explosion, and were taken to hospital following the incident.
“We had initially thought it was a gas leak, but from what the firefighters and the investigators are saying, they’re kind of speculating that it wasn’t,” said Pena.
She said they have not gotten a definitive answer as to the cause, acknowledging that a “deep investigation” is underway.
“Some type of closure would be great for them, because they’re just in absolute shock,” Pena said.
“Carbon monoxide, all these, like fire alarms, and nothing went off, so we have no idea what could have caused this.”
— With files from Gavin Young