Tagish explosion and fire was accidental, report concludes
Propane tanks exploded and spread fire on May 7, destroying two buildings
The office of Yukon's fire marshal has posted its conclusions online regarding a fire and explosion in Tagish, Yukon.
The residential fire flattened a house and destroyed another building on May 7 before spreading across grass fields toward neighbouring properties.
The fire began accidentally, the report concludes. It would have started as the property owner was burning paper and plastics in the woodstove on the property.
The woodstove did not have a cap affixed to the chimney which allowed embers to fly out.
Investigators conclude that embers from the chimney landed behind a garage and ignited some dry grass. The fire then spread through the grass to a nearby greenhouse and garage.
Garage contained waste oil, cord of wood, propane tanks
The garage contained many sources of fuel — a full cord of split wood, some waste fuel oil, a generator filled with gasoline and several propane tanks, the report states.
The propane tanks exploded.
The fire then spread through a garden of berry bushes and trees and destroyed a mostly-constructed log house frame about 50 metres away from the garage.
It managed to spread onto three neighbouring properties, burning hundreds of metres away from its point of origin, before being extinguished.
The report notes volunteer fire crews from Tagish, Carcross, Marsh Lake, Mount Lorne, Golden Horn, Ibex and Hootalinqua fought the fire as well as crews from Yukon Wildland Fire Management.
Recommendation to store fuel away from homes
The report makes a series of recommendations.
It calls for homeowners to ensure that caps are installed on chimneys and that all gasoline, flammable liquids and hazardous chemicals be stored outside in approved containers away from ignition sources, citing some minimum distances for safety.
Many parts of Yukon are under an extreme fire warning as conditions are dry and water levels are low.