Investigators were back on scene Thursday after a deadly home explosion in Kitchener’s Forest Heights neighbourhood.
Emergency responders were called to 56 Sprucedale Crescent, near Highland Road West and Westheights Drive, at approximately 8:10 a.m. Wednesday after a home exploded.
Kitchener Fire says the reconstruction portion of this investigation will take a lot of time. Heavy equipment is being brought in Thursday afternoon to begin to dismantle and reconstruct the scene.
They say the goal is to complete the investigation by the weekend.
Kitchener’s Deputy Fire Chief Rob Martin said in a press conference Thursday it is still too soon to speculate on what caused the blast, though investigators say there has been "some progress." Ground testing and infrastructure testing indicate no gas leaks.
Officials note however, that they have yet to test the actual house before ruling out a gas leak as the cause.
The explosion left one woman dead and another man critically injured.
The woman was identified Thursday as Edra Haan and the man has been identified as her husband Udo Haan.
Udo was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital Wednesday and remains in critical condition.
Over 30 firefighters were on scene fighting the flames in the home that suffered the explosion and the two adjacent houses, as well.
Since then 16 homes have been evacuated, and the Red Cross called in.
Fire officials note that the goal at the moment is to get residents who were asked to leave their homes back in and return some sense of normalcy.
The area remains closed to vehicle traffic until further notice.
Fire Chief Jon Rehill said he estimates the damage to the home and others homes on the street to be worth "millions."
The area was re-opened to Sprucedale Crescent residents around 6 p.m. Thursday evening.
With reporting by CTV's Christina Succi.
