After seeing a vehicle crash into the north Edmonton apartment building where he lived Randolph Pattemore called 911 to report the smell of gas and his worry that there would be an explosion.
And then there was.
“I saw the window go out and then all of a sudden it was like a freight train just came flying right back in,” Pattemore said Tuesday in an interview with CBC News.
Pattemore and his roommate Matty Poburan were staying at Poburan’s mother’s house, after the Monday night explosion and fire destroyed the three-storey building where they lived at 132nd Avenue and 82nd Street.
“I lost everything I had,” said Pattemore. “What I’ve got right now, it’s all I’ve got. Even lost my ID, everything.”
Police say an 85-year-old man died when he jumped from a third-floor balcony trying to escape the blaze. Six people were sent to hospital and two residents were still unaccounted for on Wednesday morning.
The 62-year-old man who was driving the vehicle that hit the building was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Explosion caused by gas line rupture leads to fatal fire in north Edmonton
Pattemore said he saw the car collide with the building’s gas line. “The smell of the gas [was] real strong,” he said.
Fearing an explosion, Pattemore raced back upstairs to grab his phone and alert Poburan and a friend who were still in the apartment.
“I told my roommate we need to get out of here now,” he said, adding that he then went into the living room and dialled 911.
Poburan said he and his friend were just about to leave the apartment when the explosion occurred.
“We’re making our way to the door and next thing you know we’re about three feet in the air — glass is flying everywhere. Just total chaos,” he said..
Poburan said he was “amazed” by the level of debris and damage to the stairwell as he evacuated.
“All the plywood off the walls were just like blown out,” he said. “You just see the bare beams sticking out.
“And you kind of got an idea at that point that you don’t got much time and we need to get everyone out of there.”
Poburan and Pattemore made it out of the apartment building safely, with some minor injuries.
However, the two dogs that Poburan was looking after for his mother did not survive. Pattemore said the two golden labradoodles jumped toward a window when the explosion happen, in an apparent attempt to escape.
Pattemore said he was still on the phone with 911 and struggling to breathe when he saw the man who drove the vehicle that hit the building.
“I got told by the 911 operator, ‘Just walk away, just catch your breath.’ And I did,” said Pattemore. “And I watched that building burn and those two dogs just … gone.”
Poburan, who noted he was still feeling “worse for wear,” said navigating the aftermath of the fire has been confusing.
“They don’t exactly have like a little pamphlet [that says], ‘So your place of living just exploded. Here’s what you do next,’” said Poburan, adding that he’s been trying to figure out which agencies to go to and where to go from here.
At a news conference Tuesday , EPS Chief Warren Driechel said due to the complexity and scale of the incident, police launched its mass casualty investigative protocol, meaning the fire is now being investigated by Edmonton police’s homicide unit.
However, Driechel said it may take over 48 hours for investigators to gain access to the inside of the apartment building to begin investigating due to the instability of the structure.
A two-block section of 82nd Street will likely remain closed for approximately the same length of time, police said.
