The cause of an explosion that destroyed a rural home southeast of London is still under investigation.
Bulldozers had scraped the rubble and debris away from the foundation of the house on Sandytown Road in the municipality of Bayham by Monday morning, leaving an empty space where the five-bedroom house once stood. A small trailer near the house also was destroyed, but swings and playset on the property remained in one piece.
No one was injured in the blast just after 10 a.m. Friday that rattled the windows of a neighbouring home half a kilometre away.
Investigators from the Ontario’s fire marshal’s office continues to sift through the evidence. The Technical Standards and Safety Authority is assisting in the investigation because the home was heated by propane, the Bayham fire department said in a media release.
Jim Demetrio, a spokesperson for the Ontario fire marshal’s office, said investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the explosion.
“It’s premature to speculate during an on-going investigation,” he said Monday. “As to how unusual it is, it depends on the type of explosion. It is something our investigators are looking at right now.”
Debris from the explosion flew as far as neighbouring fields about 100 meters away, Bayham fire Chief Harry Baranik said.
“Personally, I have never seen anything like it. In and of itself this is very unusual, the explosion blew itself out.”
The fire department contacted the home’s owner after arriving at the house on Friday. The owner, who was not identified, said he had just bought the property and hadn’t moved in so the house should be vacant, the Bayham fire department said.
No damage estimate has been released.
Vanessa Pitawanakwat lives in a house about 500 metres down the road from the home that was destroyed.
Pitawanakwat said was in the basement and didn’t hear anything but her daughter felt the window rattle, and her husband told her it felt like a car had driven into the house.
“It’s shocking,” said Ed Ketchabaw, the mayor of Bayham who lives about 700 metres from the house that exploded. “We don’t have that every day, it’s like murder, we don’t see it. Houses burn, tragedies happen. But explode? No.”
Ketchabaw, whose family owns the farmland surrounding the house, said he and his wife heard a loud noise Friday morning but didn’t see any smoke on the horizon.
He said he and his wife were driving to the hardware store and came across the flattened home. Ketchabaw said was surprised to see there wasn’t any smoke or flames.
“Our predominant sense, we were just grateful no one was hurt,” Ketchabaw said.