Firefighters faced dangerous rescue operation at Orléans explosion site, records show

Once described as a success achieved under "extreme circumstances," documents reveal some of the serious challenges facing Ottawa firefighters when they rescued two construction workers trapped in the debris of last February's massive Orléans explosion.

Firefighters arriving at the scene faced downed wires and leaking natural gas lines, causing one member to worry that crews might be electrocuted while trying to save lives, documents show.

While firefighters were able to find and pull out the first worker relatively quickly, the second proved more challenging to extract.

There was also conflicting information about how many people needed to be rescued at the site, which was a mix of new homes and homes still under construction.

Marc Messier, a recently retired fire investigator and fire prevention officer, reviewed incident reports and dispatch records obtained by CBC News from the response by his former colleagues at Ottawa Fire Services.

"Definitely chaos," said Messier, describing what he read.

"Victims are trapped. You've got unknown victims that could be in homes nearby. And then you've got the building you need to stabilize in order to get to the victims quickly."

What follows is an account of that morning which, unless otherwise indicated, is drawn from those fire department documents.

'Houses exploded. No longer there' 

The explosion happened early on Feb. 13 inside Minto Communities' Avalon Vista development.

Some people had only recently moved in to the east Ottawa neighbourhood while construction continued on other uninhabited houses in the development.

Ottawa Fire Services estimated the total loss at $10 million.

Kody Troy Crosby — previously accused of breaking into other local construction sites — is charged with arson and criminal negligence. Police allege Crosby broke into two Blossom Pass Terrace houses the night before, removed water heaters and left the natural gas line open.

The gas line ignited the next morning, injuring four construction workers, according to police, who heard the blast from as far away as Cyrville Road.

"Three-four buildings have completely blown up and are levelled now," one 911 caller was summarized as reporting at 6:20 a.m.

"Heard a very loud explosion," another shared one minute later. "Possibly houses exploded. No longer there."

'Danger of being electrocuted'

Fire Station 53 in Orléans took charge of the scene, though people and rigs from more than a dozen other stations raced there, too.

Unlike the deadly Eastway Tank blast exactly 13 months earlier, firefighters were not battling flames for hours.

Instead, crew members donned N-95 masks due to floating insulation as they navigated damaged power lines leading to a 30-metre radius debris field.

The smell of natural gas hung in the air, with one Station 53 member also reporting a sound of gas leaking somewhere in the detritus.

"I made multiple requests to have Hydro disconnect the power to this entire development," wrote another member. "Our crews were in danger of being electrocuted searching and performing multiple rescues."

"It's really hard to start a rescue of a patient knowing that all these risks exist," Messier said.

A spokesperson for Hydro One said the request from first responders was received at about 6:33 a.m., with crews arriving at 7:01 a.m.

"Once the gas was turned off and it was safe for our crews to disconnect power, they were able to do so within minutes," the spokesperson said.

A 3rd trapped person? 

Firefighters searched homes within a two-block radius for people injured in the blast.

There was conflicting information about how many people might have been at the site during the explosion, and how many might be trapped in the rubble.

One early caller said all the houses were occupied, while other information from workers at the site indicated "nobody was in the buildings in question."

"I was updated by some other workers on site that there were possibly one or two people missing with their whereabouts unknown," the Station 53 member reported.

It wasn't until 9:10 a.m., nearly three hours after the explosion, that officials confirmed a third person believed trapped was in fact out and safe.

"Only after discussions with ... Minto staff and many other fire officials it was determined that all people had been rescued and accounted tor," another member wrote.

2nd storey 'pancaked' down onto first

To find the two men trapped in the rubble, crews called out to survivors while combing through the wreckage, records show.

The first man rescued was initially heard responding, and found, about a half hour after the blast.

As that man was moved out of the debris at 7:19 a.m., muffled sounds from the second trapped man could be heard from the ruins of Townhouse 113, a destroyed unit located just west of the bend on Blossom Pass Terrace.

Getting him out would prove more complicated, as firefighters needed "to allow for structural collapse teams to do their work." Search cameras were sought "to get a better idea of what's going on inside the structure."

Someone from Station 12's rope rescue unit had entered the basement through a window and "started cutting inspection holes in the subfloor to deploy a 360 search camera to try and get a visual on the trapped individual."

The townhouse's second storey had "pancaked" down onto the first floor — where the man was trapped — so firefighters had to abort any basement rescue attempt.

3 hours trapped 

Crews used "cribbing and shoring" to stabilize the structure and "bottle jacks and lift bags" to reach the man.

Not unlike Jenga, Messier said, "cribbing is basically using pieces of wood in order to build a support underneath an object or a structure to keep it stable from falling."

Shoring involves "building a temporary structure in order to support a large piece like a wall that might collapse."

Lift bags are used in car wrecks.

"You put that under the vehicle and then you use compressed air to inflate the bag and it basically lifts the vehicle," Messier said.

The "last cut" was made, the man's right arm was freed and at 9:31 a.m. — more than three hours after the blast — the man was lifted out and handed over to paramedics for treatment.

The two trapped men, plus two other men injured in the explosion, were construction workers sub-contracted by Potvin Construction.

They were all out of the hospital by late February and "lucky to be alive," said Potvin spokesperson Chantal Guindon.

Alleged arsonist back in court Wednesday 

The fire department documents don't mention any pre-existing on-site security at the time of the explosion.

Minto has previously declined to answer whether the construction site had security before the blast, citing the ongoing court case against Crosby.

A month after the explosion, two Capital Security cars stood watch over the Avalon Vista entrance.

George Lalande, the owner of Capital Security, said his firm was hired by a company named Stealth to provide security at the site beginning on the day of the explosion through late April.

Stealth directed questions about security to Minto.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to provide further details at this time as this is a legal matter in the hands of authorities," Minto said Friday in an emailed statement.

Crosby is scheduled to return to court on Wednesday.