EPS: One dead in explosion, fire inside southwest Edmonton home

Fiery explosion in SW home A fiery explosion rocked a south Edmonton neighbourhood Friday morning, leaving one person dead.

Police said one person was dead Friday, after an explosion and fire in a home in southwest Edmonton.

Firefighters, police and paramedics were on scene, in the area of 121 Street and 16 Avenue SW late Friday morning.

Edmonton Fire Rescue said the initial call came in at 10:49 a.m., and crews arrived five minutes later.

When they arrived on the scene, the incident was upgraded to an explosion.

“We added our HAZMAT crew at that point, we had seven rigs on scene at the peak of it,” Deputy Chief MacDonald said on the scene. “The fire was under control at 11:23 a.m.”

MacDonald said the explosion and fire were contained to the home, and police were investigating.

Police said a deceased male was found inside the house, and his death appeared to be non-criminal late Friday afternoon.

The home is near Johnny Bright Elementary School, and police put the school on alert from 11:20 to 11:35 a.m. Friday as a precaution – at that time, all children, staff and families at the school were kept inside, and security had the students stay inside the school for morning recess.

As of 1 p.m., everything at the school was back to normal.

Police said they were still investigating.

With files from Dan Grummett