A year later, impact of deadly Whitehorse house explosion still resonates

Linda Gould still mourns the life she had up until a year ago. 

In the early hours of Nov. 14, 2023, Dave Gould was still next to her  — the love of her life and partner of nearly 40 years, with whom she'd built a large family and network of friends. Their cozy, custom-built home in Whitehorse's Riverdale neighbourhood witnessed many a birthday party, Christmas dinner and even the couple's wedding. 

It was just before 5:30 that morning when Linda woke up and walked to the bathroom. While she would normally sit on the edge of the bed after getting up — a habit she picked up after a surgery a few years ago — that morning, for reasons she's still not sure of, she immediately put her feet on the floor. 

Linda was standing in the bathroom and wondering why she'd gone in there when there was an earth-shattering bang and the ceiling fell in on her. She escaped the bathroom and then her house, barefoot and in shock, but physically unscathed.

Her husband, however, was still sleeping in their bed when the explosion tore through the bedroom. He died in the blast. 

It's a reality that, a year later, Linda said is still hard to process.  

"He did not deserve to die like that. And we didn't even get to say goodbye," she said.

"My heart's broken and I don't know if it'll ever heal."

What Linda survived was the house next door exploding, with a force so great that it registered on Earthquake Canada's Whitehorse seismogram. The blast propelled doorknobs and wooden boards into surrounding homes and trees, and sent insulation and documents so high in the air that they were still raining down minutes later. 

The explosion at 17 Bates Cres. reduced that house to little more than an unrecognizable pile of oversized matchsticks. 

The next-most-seriously-damaged home was the Goulds' place, next door at 15 Bates Cres. One whole side of the house was blasted off.

It was the same side the Goulds' bedroom was on. 

Dave Gould was the only person killed that morning — a tragedy but, in some ways, a near-miracle given the scale of the explosion and damage left behind. 

The owner of 17 Bates, Tim Preston, was inside his home that morning and pulled from the wreckage alive.