A massive natural gas explosion that levelled three buildings and caused damage to nearby businesses in downtown Nipawin at 11:02 a.m., Friday morning, April 18, has claimed two lives and injured two others.

Dead are Jack Boxall, 78, and his son Brent, 51. Both victims were onsite when the explosion took place.

Jack Boxall died at Nipawin Hospital and two victims were sent to Saskatoon and one to Prince Albert. Brent was one of the victims sent to Saskatoon and later died of his injuries at 11:30 p.m., Friday.

The Boxalls were removing debris and hauling in backfill on two adjacent lots where the old vacant Empress Cafe building and the former Fiddler Agencies building had been demolished earlier in the week to make room for the future new home of Fiddler Agencies.

On location at the time of explosion were Mike Lungul of Nipawin, an employee of Jack Boxall Trucking, and Lorry Riemer of White Fox, the owner of a trac-hoe 210 who was preparing the site for future development.

Jim Rudy, owner of B.J.’s Sausage & Meats was also in the vicinity of the explosion.

Nipawin Fire Chief Les McGirr says about 20 local firefighters attended the scene and six more from each of the communities of Choiceland and Carrot River.

At a news conference Monday morning, Fire Commissioner Duane McKay, said SaskEnergy was notified of a gas leak at 10:27 a.m. Friday, April 18 .

According to McKay SaskEnergy responded immediately to the site of the vacant lot where the gas riser was spewing out gas. The riser pipe was indicated with a flag and staked as well.

It appears the gas line was pulled out of the main line riser by equipment. The main line was located in the alley between the vacant lot and B.J.’s Meats.

Once gas is released it needs to find an escape route and it did so by ending up in B.J.’s building, where the ignition point occurred which caused the blast, said McKay. The gas line is buried underground so it would have tried to escape to the atmosphere (gas is lighter than air) so it would have tried to go up, but any avenue of escape it would have followed. It could have been another service pipe or something that went into that building that it followed along.

He went on to say we don’t know what ignited the gas, however, furnances have ignitors on them as well as hot water heaters or any number of electrical contacts.

Monday morning Peggy Ratcliffe of the Kelsey Trail Health Region (KTHR) was unaware of the status of the victims who remained in Saskatoon and Prince Albert, but added that there is no one presently hospitalized at Nipawin Hospital who received injuries from the explosion.

The KTHR is prevented from discussing the status of the patients under the provisions of the health information protection act.

The explosion destroyed B.J.’s Sausage and Meats, the former Suenos Cafe building and Bodies by Choice gymnasium and resulted in damage to nearby True Value Hardware, C.J.’s Furniture, Thee Lady Barber, Mollberg Agencies, The Nipawin Journal, and the Saskatchewan provincial government building and numerous other buildings sustained lesser damage.

Sgt. Carol Raymond of the RCMP reported that their investigation is still underway and could not determine whether or not charges would be laid. The investigation will continue for a period of time as they interview all the participants.

The site has been secured and turned over to the municipality, and all utilities have been restored.
Individuals who are feeling overwhelmed by the events or may be concerned about how others are coping can call Mental Health and Addiction Services at 862-9822 for confidential help.

Victim Services is also available to anyone having a difficult time dealing with the trauma associated with the disaster.

"After a trauma individuals may go through a wide range of normal responses such as shock, and disbelief, fear and anxiety, emotional swings, anger, restlessness, worry and flashbacks of the event." Other responses can include a tendency to isolate from others, feelings of detachment and problems with sleep.

A number of Nipawin businesses were impacted by Friday’s explosion. Following are several comments from those affected.

• Diamond North Credit Union, Kevin Isaacson, branch manager of Diamond North Credit Union said Monday there was little damage to his workplace. "We were lucky – nothing major. Ceiling tile moved and a couple fell down. Nothing serious."

• Mollberg Agencies, Wally Mollberg of Mollberg Agencies, which is located directly across the street from the explosion said he was standing looking out his window when he heard the bang first. "Womp! Then the building (B.J.’s) was down. The front of the store was laying on the street, along with the B.J’s meat sign . . . then the natural gas line burst into flames right away."

Grant Mollberg said he was looking out the front door when the glass broke, then he hunched over. "Windows were broke upstairs and down. Glass shattered all over," Grant said. "It was quite a pop. The reflexes take over," he added. "It even blew the clips off the window blinds."
• Funeral arrangements, Coventry Funeral Services has care of arrangements for the Boxall family. No date or location for the funeral for Jack and Brent Boxall was available at press time.