Send this page to someone via email

Investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) have narrowed down the cause of Friday’s explosion at 32 Southcreek Trail in Guelph to the inside of the house.

“Enbridge came and did a meter change on Friday and as a result of an action that occurred during that meter change while the technician was here, we had an explosion several hours later as a result of a natural gas leak within the house,” OFM lead investigator Dave Emberlin told Global News.

He and his team are expecting to wrap up their investigation at the house on Monday afternoon.

Emberlin said he believes that he knows where the leak was although they are currently working to rule out any other possible leaks inside the home.

Story continues below advertisement

He added that a component will be sent on to an engineer for further testing, which could take several weeks.

The lead investigator on the site said that there is no cause for concern for neighbours in relation to the gas line.

“It’s not an underground leak,” Emberlin said.

“Nobody else has any concerns it’s specific and isolated to this property only.” Tweet This

Guelph police said that emergency services were called to the home on Southcreek Trail shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

They said that firefighters arrived to find that the home had exploded out from all four corners.

One woman and a dog were inside the house at the time of the explosion but escaped injury.

“I’m absolutely grateful that she didn’t have any injuries at all,” Guelph police Const. Kyle Grant said Friday. “We transported her to hospital as a precautionary measure more than anything.

“Just very happy to hear that she’s completely fine. That her dog is completely fine.” Tweet This

Story continues below advertisement

Two of the neighbouring homes were also said to be damaged as a result of the debris hitting them.

Around 30 homes in the area were evacuated with between 60 and 80 people being displaced.