A man in his mid-twenties is dead after an explosion and fire on Friday night.
The man was rushed to hospital in critical condition with severe burns after the explosion which occurred in the garage of a home on the 4400 block of 7th Avenue around 8:45 pm.
Fire marshal Randy Ryba spoke with reporters on Saturday afternoon saying there are still many questions to be answered.
“Upon arrival, the garage was fully involved.” Ryba said. “We had one person badly injured laying in the alley. It took us about two and a half hours to get the blaze under control. It is still an extremely unstable scene.”
Ryba added it was a dangerous situation for some of those attending,
“We did have a second explosion when our first trucks arrived on scene.” Ryba said. “It was a nitrous oxide bottle used for racing that exploded. It knocked both of our firefighters over and put a dent in our truck. Luckily, our firefighters were not injured. It just shows the perils of a garage fire because you never know what’s inside.
Another person inside the home escaped without injury.
It is not known at this time what caused the fire and explosion. At this point, Ryba believes the cause is accidental.
Ryba says this is the first fire-related fatality the city has seen in about 18 months.
