Former Ice Road Trucker sentenced for causing explosion
A former star of the popular television series Ice Road Truckers was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest in Yellowknife on Wednesday.
Arthur Burke had previously pleaded guilty to causing arson by negligence.
In court documents he admitted that in November 2018 he caused an explosion in the bathroom of his Yellowknife apartment while he was trying to make a concentrated form of cannabis called "shatter." A key ingredient in the process is butane, a highly-flammable substance commonly used in disposable lighters.
The explosion blew the bathroom door off its hinges, lifted the ceiling of the apartment and caused more than $60,000 damage to the building. Burke spent 12 days in hospital recovering from burns and other injuries he suffered.
The 18-month conditional sentence was recommended by both the prosecution and defence.
Burke, who is in his mid-60s and lives on Prince Edward Island, is allowed to serve some of that sentence in the cab of his truck to allow him to continue to earn a living while serving his sentence.
He starred in Ice Road Truckers for its final five seasons.
