Three municipal employees are among the injured after an explosion rocked downtown Wheatley Thursday evening.
According to Chatham-Kent Fire Chief Chris Case, 20 individuals were treated at the scene by paramedics. Case said 13 people were released at the scene while three people were transported to the hospital with severe but non-life-threatening injuries and four people were transported to the hospital with minor, moderate injuries.
Three of the injured individuals were municipal staff members.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire said Friday morning that, out of respect for the individuals' privacy, the municipality will not be confirming whether or not the injured municipal employees were firefighters.
Shropshire added that one of the municipal employees had to have emergency surgery, which he said went well.
"They've already had a pretty hard 24 hours," he said. "They'll have to tell that story when they're ready to do so."
Local firefighters remained at the scene overnight and were still maintaining a safe perimeter around the area Friday morning, adding that gas was still being detected at the site after the explosion.
According to Case, there is currently no indication of how the explosion was triggered
"We have fire investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshall currently on scene," Case said on Friday morning. "They're obviously hampered by the fact that there is poisonous and explosive gas coming from the ground."
Municipal officials are urging members of the public to avoid downtown Wheatley as their investigation into what caused the explosion continues.
Shropshire said the next step for municipal officials is to reach out to the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to push for them to determine the source of the gas leak.
"Now that the event has occurred, does it make it easier for [provincial officials] to go in and try to identify the source of the leak? What is that going to look like?" said Shropshire. "Our response to the emergency, that's clearly owned by the municipality. When we start looking at trying to identify the source and have some sort of a plan for how we can mitigate it and prevent another event from happening in the future, that's beyond the municipality's mandate or expertise."
Shropshire said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has a mandate to deal with abandoned gas wells and while officials can't say with certainty at this time that was the cause of the leak, it's believed that is the most probable cause.
"We're really looking for the province to step in and work with the municipality and property owners in the area and let's figure this thing out," said Shropshire. "This is not something that people should have to carry for months and months and months, we need to do better."
Municipal officials in Chatham-Kent said earlier this month that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had committed to taking the lead on the investigation to identify the source of the gas leak in Wheatley.
"I'll be blunt and say it's not the sense of urgency we've been asking for," said Shropshire. "We've been asking since June [for the ministry to come and do this.]"
Shropshire said it's his understanding that the province has been working with a private sector company to try and get technical expertise that could develop a plan.
During a media conference on Friday morning, municipal officials confirmed they were set to meet with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry that afternoon.
Chatham-Kent--Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls said he's also been in touch with the ministry.
"I’ve spoken with the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and he has assured me that the ministry has boots on the ground to investigate this most unfortunate crisis in Wheatley," Nicholls said in an emailed statement to Blackburn News. "Further comments will come after the ministry has completed a full investigation, hopefully to rectify the situation."
Blackburn News has reached out to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for comment, but has not heard back at press time.
Premier Doug Ford reached out on Twitter Friday morning to express his support for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent as well.
"My heart goes out to those who were injured. Thank you to all the first responders who were on scene to help," said Ford in a tweet. "Our government will continue to work with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent to support them anyway we can."
A reception centre has been established at the Wheatley Arena for those who have been evacuated.
