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Firefighters respond to explosion in Red Deer early Saturday morning

There was an explosion at a Red Deer duplex in the Rosedale neighbourhood early Saturday morning.
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Red Deer Emergency Services responded to an explosion at a duplex on Rupert Crescent Saturday morning. (Photo by Sean McIntosh/Advocate staff)

There was an explosion at a Red Deer duplex in the Rosedale neighbourhood early Saturday morning.

Firefighters were called to the scene on Rupert Crescent at 12:45 a.m.

“We had multiple 911 calls about a house exploding,” said Red Deer Emergency Services Deputy Chief Chris Kearns.

The fire was active on one side of the duplex when firefighters arrived.

“Crews put out the visible fire quite quickly. There was some fire in the basement that continued for a bit, so they fought that for a little while. They were under control by about 2 a.m.,” said Kearns.

“Crews stayed on scene for quite a while longer, just looking for hot spots and things like that. They were on scene until well after 4 a.m.”

The sole occupant of the duplex’s unit, where the explosion occurred, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

“Two of the walls are significantly compromised structurally. Two walls were blown right off the house – the side wall and the back wall. It was quite a significant explosion,” he said.

Occupants of the other half of the duplex evacuated their residence immediately and did not sustain any injuries.

“The fire did not impact the adjacent house, but there could be some damage as a result of water, or some structural (damage). We’re just not sure yet,” he said.

A cause has yet to be determined.

“We’re quite certain it was a natural gas explosion, we’re just not sure what exactly caused it,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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