With a year having passed since a major gas explosion in a Canmore neighbourhood, families displaced by the blast are beginning to move back into their homes.
With a year having passed since a major gas explosion in a Canmore neighbourhood, families displaced by the blast are beginning to move back into their homes.
It was a sunny Friday afternoon in the community and construction crews were just getting started on a project to expand the Bow River Seniors Lodge on 13th Street when a sub-contractor on the site hit a gas line on June 26.
The gas flowed through the ground into the basement of a home in the neighbourhood until an ignition source was found. The explosion that resulted had significant strength. Jenny Palmer, whose home is 120 feet directly across from the one that exploded, was at home in her kitchen at the time.
While officials are unable to quantify the blast - in any form of measurement - the force registered 1.1 on the Richter scale at the closest seismic measurement location in Priddis, Alta.
While 14 houses were instantly affected by the blast, 12 were subject to considerable damage.
Of those 12, officials with the municipality indicate three have received occupancy, seven are still under repair and two - including the house that actually exploded - have had no work done at all.
Palmer and her husband Dave are one of the three that moved back into their home a week ago. She said after being displaced for a year, it is a good feeling to be back home.
“It is good to be back,” she said. “I am glad because that is our home. It was our home for 30 years and will be our home for another 30 years.”
But being out of their home for that length of time was challenging for Palmer, who said it was like living in a hotel room for a year.
“It didn't feel right,” she said. “It wasn't our home. But we were one of the lucky ones that were able to find a place to rent for the 10 months. We know other people who weren't as lucky, they ended up having to move nine or 10 times throughout the course of the year. We consider ourselves lucky.”
Despite the fact that an entire year has passed, there are still no answers to questions residents affected by the blast and the community have had since.
Canmore Fire and Rescue confirmed after the explosion the first indication they had of a gas line being struck was after the blast occurred - officials with the province stated earlier this year the gas line was caught by the bucket of an excavator by sub-contractor Ground Zero Grading.
But as to why 911 was not called, even though ATCO Gas was informed of the gas line rupture, there is still no answer and the “investigation is ongoing,” according to government officials.
An Occupational Health and Safety investigation may make determination as to whether appropriate actions were taken, may determine to put steps in place for workplaces to ensure a similar incident does not occur, may refer the file to the Crown prosecutors' office or issue administrative penalties. No determinations have been made and the investigation is ongoing, according to government officials.
It has been frustrating for Palmer and her family. She said the process has been long and slow to get back into their home, which had to come down to the sub-floors before being rebuilt.
“Things happened very quickly the week after the impact,” she said. “But after that it seemed to take forever and that was the frustrating part; we wanted to get on with it, but there are processes to go through.”
The Outlook has tried to determine the value of property loss as a result of the gas explosion, however, both Canmore Fire Rescue staff and the province referred to each other as the appropriate authority to answer that question and neither could provide an answer.
While there may be no clear indication on the loss of property at this time, when the Town of Canmore sent out its property assessment notices this year for 2016 taxes, there was a loss. According to the assessor, the properties along 13th Street lost $6.4 million in value compared to what they were assessed at the year before.
As for contents, each individual homeowner dealt with their own insurance company to value their possessions. Many homeowners were surprised after the explosion with the news that not only did the home that exploded have asbestos in it, but several homes shaken to their foundations also had asbestos contamination as a result.
When cleanup crews went into the homes, they were tasked with removing all contents due to the risk of asbestos contamination, which was not a consequence of the explosion that was immediately apparent to homeowners.
Meanwhile, the overall project that was the source of the explosion is a major addition to the Bow River Seniors Home - an Alberta Seniors project. Dubbed This is Home, the seniors lodge expansion is phase one of work to create additional space for the elderly to remain in Canmore as they age. Bow Valley Regional Housing executive director Ian Wilson said the project continues and it will result in 63 new residential lodge units, replacing 43 older ones and providing 20 units of new inventory to the lodge.
“Phase one is proceeding roughly according to original schedule and we anticipate it will be handed over to us around the end of the year,” Wilson said, adding occupancy of the units would be in 2017.
