Prince George explosion sends at least three to hospital

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An old, abandoned restaurant in a downtown Prince George building that had been derelict for nearly 10 years was the scene of an explosion early Tuesday morning, sending three people to hospital, one with serious injuries.

Jennifer Cooper, a spokesperson for Prince George RCMP, said the exact cause of the blast is under investigation.

The explosion took place just after 7 a.m., forcing the shutdown of roads and hydro in the area.

Katherine Saunby was baking at the café Daydream Doughnuts early in the morning two doors down from the abandoned restaurant. Suddenly, the back door of the store was forced closed and she heard the sound of an explosion. Ms. Saunby said she thought it was the garbage truck dropping its dumpster. She went around the corner and saw someone she identified as a homeless person pulling an injured woman to the sidewalk.

“Her injuries were fairly serious,” Ms. Saunby said. “She was bleeding quite heavily from a wound on her face.”

Ms. Saunby called 911 and the ambulance arrived almost immediately.

Several businesses in the area, including the café, were closed after the explosion.

Ms. Saunby said if the incident had happened an hour later, there would have been many more people walking down the street, and more shops opening with patrons in them. “We’re lucky that it happened as early as it did.”

Heather Ziebart, the owner of Daydream Donuts, said the area has had issues for some time with unhoused people starting fires near buildings.

“There were squatters in that building. It had become somewhat derelict,” she said. “It’s been broken into quite a few times and windows broken out and you could see them basically walking away from it.”

Ms. Ziebart said the area has been dealing with crime-related issues for some time. “All of the small businesses, even some of the big businesses and the office buildings, it’s very challenging because there’s thefts and there’s damage,” she said. “In the wintertime, the cold weather, there’s fires all the time because they make their fires on the sidewalks or in the doorways and they’re not terribly careful.”

Neal MacDonald arrived at the scene just before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday after being told about a massive explosion just steps away from his business, City Secondhand Movers. He said debris, including aluminum siding, was scattered across the roadways and windows of nearby businesses were blown out.

By the time he arrived, most of the fire had been put out. The structure, which Mr. MacDonald said used to house a bus station and later the Achillion Greek restaurant, was practically destroyed.

Members of the RCMP were on scene when Mr. MacDonald arrived, blocking the street, but he was given permission to enter.

Mr. MacDonald went back to the scene around 3 p.m. Smoke had cleared, showing the structure had burned down to its bones with nothing but a handful of beams rising above the ground on top of blackened wood and other structural materials in large mounds.

At least three window frames surrounded by shards of glass from the shattered panes landed in the City Secondhand parking lot.

The Wood Innovation Centre, directly next to the abandoned building, suffered damage to its exterior. Flames ripped through some of the centre’s siding, exposing its sheathing and wooden beams.

Randy Wilson, owner of the nearby antique and collectible shop Other People’s Treasures, said his alarm system went off Tuesday morning and when he checked the security camera footage, all he saw was smoke.

He said police didn’t allow him in his building, but he was able to go check on things from a back entrance, and some things had been knocked off shelves, but otherwise no damage had occurred.

Mr. Wilson said his store has a lot of different items including sports memorabilia such as old hockey cards and other keepsakes and rarities.

A break-in a few years ago, Mr. Wilson said, drained the shop of about $60,000 worth of goods.

“I’m frustrated with the whole thing, the whole downtown core,” he said. “it’s getting worse every year.”

Mr. Wilson said other buildings in the city’s downtown area have burnt down in recent years, and said it’s been frustrating as the city’s issue with homelessness has only grown.

“I’ve come downtown sometimes 11 at night when they’re burning stuff in the back alley behind my store. My building is wood,” he said. “I got some decisions to make.”

RCMP has reached out to the public, asking people to share any video footage of the explosion to help with the investigation.

With a report from The Canadian Press