Two injured in explosion on crescent in Hay River, N.W.T.
CBC
Two people were injured and several homes damaged in Hay River, N.W.T., Saturday morning when something exploded on a private property on Beaver Crescent.
In an update at 2:45 p.m., deputy mayor Keith Dohey said fire crews and emergency responders were onsite quickly to deal with the aftermath.
"Two area residents were treated for injuries thought to be non-critical," he wrote in a statement.
The Town previously said on its Facebook page that crews had isolated utilities for two properties. It also issued a precautionary evacuation for Beaver Crescent, which was lifted earlier today.
Dohey stated that firefighters suppressed a fire from the explosion on one property.
The explosion, which happened at about 10:20 a.m., blew out the windows of nearby homes and sent a thick plume of black smoke skyward. Residents throughout the town reported feeling the shockwave hit their homes.
Jane Groenewegen, who owns a home two doors down from where the explosion occurred, said the windows and doors on her home were broken by the blast.
"We were just returning from Yellowknife, so some of our staff went over there and were able to board the house up," she said.
"I've heard that there's windows that have been blown open and blown out quite a ways away — even up on crescents that back onto the ravine."
Matt Balsillie lives across the highway from Beaver Crescent, about a kilometre away. When the shockwave hit his home, one of the panes in his porch window shattered.
He was on his couch with his dogs, half asleep when it happened.
"It sounded like a gunshot and ... I heard the pane of the glass just collapse into the porch," he said. "I was pretty shook."
The town has not yet confirmed the cause of the explosion. The Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating the incident. Dohey wrote that residents and local contractors have already begun emergency repairs to properties.
"Impacted residents are advised to contact and work through their insurance company," he wrote.
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