Testing is underway at the site of the house explosion in Kitchener, but fire officials say that we may not have answers as to the cause until this weekend.
“It is too early right now too speculate on cause,” Kitchener Deputy Fire Chief Rob Martin said during a noon-hour update Thursday.
“Our aim is to complete the investigation by this weekend,” he provided.
Martin explained that the process for the investigation is to work from the outside inwards, meaning they seek answers from the exterior of the home before they enter and investigate the epicenter of the incident.
The deputy fire chief said they have completed testing on the ground outside the home to see if there are any gas leaks.
“Ground testing has been completed and what that looks for is migrating gas in the ground and the infrastructure testing has been completed and that looks at all the infrastructure that supports the gas supply to the residences,” he explained. “All that testing has been completed and there have been negative results which means there were no leaks.”
That does not rule out the cause as being a gas leak, however, as they will still need to conduct testing on the interior of the home.
Heavy equipment trucks are expected to arrive on scene Thursday afternoon so that investigators can dismantle the home and begin to reconstruct the scene.
There are currently 16 homes that have been evacuated as a result of Wednesday’s explosion, which left one woman dead and a man in critical condition in the hospital.
The explosion also levelled one home and did significant damage to two neighbouring homes. On Wednesday, Kitchener Fire Chief Jon Rehill said that the damage was into seven figures.
Martin said they are hoping to allow some of the displaced residents back into their homes Thursday.
“Our hope is that around the dinner hour, we will be able to open the (south side) to pedestrian traffic only,” he explained. “So the residents will be able to walk in and return to their homes.”
Neighbours identified Edra Haan as the woman who was killed in the explosion and her husband Udo as the man who was airlifted to hospital.
The pair both worked for Sun Life Financial. The company released a statement of regret.
“We are deeply saddened to learn from family about the sudden passing of Edra Haan and the critical injuries sustained to her husband, Udo Haan, who remains in hospital,” the statement read. “As valued members of the Sun Life team, our heartfelt condolences and thoughts go out to their families, friends and colleagues.”
Waterloo police told Global News that they are expecting results of an autopsy to arrive Thursday or Friday.
On Wednesday, Waterloo deputy police chief Kevin Chalk said the scene is currently being deemed a death investigation.
“We haven’t been able to get to the scene for obvious reasons until it’s safe to do so and the coroner has yet to arrive on scene,” he explained.
“We’re somewhat hampered by the fact that we can’t get to the scene to do an investigation other than peripheral at this point.”
Investigators say the woman’s body and the injured man were found in the rubble behind the home, and a dead dog was spotted inside.
Officials say 16 other houses will be evacuated, possibly into the weekend, as the investigation continues.
Two neighbouring homes were significantly damaged and fire officials say the residents will not be able to return any time soon.
Link to original article in Global News.ca: Investigation underway into cause of deadly Kitchener house explosion