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BCC Cabin Explosion
I don't have much detail on this.
At approx. 0430 3/36 a cabin off of Guardsman Pass opposite side of BCC from Solitude exploded, leaving a smoldering hole. I rushed up there to see if anything could be done, met w/ neighbor who was not sure who the owner/resident(s) were but confirmed no living victims so I headed back to work as response from Unified Fire Authority was arriving.
I post so we can check on friends/family who may have been owner/resident(s) of a cabin in that area.
I'm sure there will be more info available as media gets on this.
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Still a pretty significant amt of smoke.
All my people accounted for.
Wondering if news helis will fly this?? Baron?? I'd kind of like to get a daytime aerial view.
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just saw something on the weather channel about a shed getting hit by avie shell possibly the same thing????????
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jeez. it could be. all we know is there was an explosion, cause unknown.
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Nothing on any of the SLC news network websites about it yet. Hopefully something will show up soon, sounds like a tragic, yet sensational story for them to cover.
++++ vibes sent that nobody was hurt/killed by it.
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Damn!
Glad nobody is hurt.
Another stray arty round?
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FYI...can't confirm nobody's hurt...from the looks of it, if there was somebody in the structure they'd be disintegrated, so time will tell if someone's missing...that's why I posted here, so people could check w/ people they know who live in that group of cabins.
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8:15am, our chopper is heading up there to check it out, sounds pretty spectacular. I have no other info and am heading to Alta for the morning before work...
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this is artie pie in the sky, on scene...how's it looking artie...I can't see through metal Steve!
off to ski...hope all turns out well
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Meth Lab? Gas leak? Tyler Durden? Stray avie shell?
I hope nobody was home.
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propanne leak is thought to be the cause.
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Nobody dead, no injuries, but man, the aerials of the cabin show there ain't much left...
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Propane/natural gas explosions freak me out. Glad nobody's hurt or dead.
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freaky stuff,
two propane/cabin explosions in one week?????
check out this story from the Ragged Wilderness
I guess you really need to check your propane RIP everyone
here
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Blast pulverizes canyon cabin
Owner's decision not to spend night may have saved his life
By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News
BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON — Steve Sanders hadn't been to his winter cabin isolated among the trees high in Big Cottonwood Canyon in about two weeks.
He had planned on driving there Friday night to watch the Ute basketball team's game against Kentucky in the NCAA tournament. But he got busy and ultimately was too tired to drive up.
The decision probably saved his life: About 4:30 a.m. Saturday, Sanders' cabin exploded.
"Totally destroyed the cabin. Completely blew it up," said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Gaylord Scott.
All that was left of the three-story cabin was a hole in the ground and debris scattered for thousands of feet in every direction. Part of Sanders' roof landed on the neighbor's roof. Some debris landed in the trees surrounding the house.
"It was the loudest explosion I ever heard," said neighbor Ross McIntyre, who was asleep in his cabin nearby when the explosion happened. "I'm still in disbelief a house could disappear that fast."
Many neighbors and some officials said they had never seen anything like the destruction left by the explosion.
Sanders himself was virtually at a loss for words as he surveyed the damage Saturday afternoon.
"It's mind-boggling how there's nothing left," he said. "Everything is just gone."
But most important, Sanders said, he's glad no one was injured.
"I'm alive. I'm happy about that," he said. "I'm just glad we weren't here."
The cabin was near 12100 East and 6400 South near Guardsman Pass in an isolated community known as Forest Glen, where about 60 cabins are located. It has about a dozen full-time residents.
The only way to access the community in the winter is on snowmobile, Snowcat or foot. Fire crews were forced initially to hike in knee-deep snow several hundred yards to reach the site.
They found burning piles of scattered debris, but the only thing left of the cabin was the foundation, Scott said.
Several feet of new snow that had fallen over the past few days caused big problems for fire crews.
"Everything was so snow-covered it was tough to do anything," Scott said, noting that all the fire hydrants in the area were buried under 8 to 10 feet of snow, he said.
"It took well over an hour to find a hydrant," Scott said.
Residents in that area are traditionally very good about keeping the hydrants clear, Scott said. This was a case where it was impossible for anyone to keep up with all the new snow that had fallen, he said. Firefighters also noted that the cabin was so damaged it wouldn't have made any difference if the hydrants hadn't been buried.
A Snowcat from nearby Brighton Ski Resort was eventually obtained to help transport more firefighters and equipment into the area and to help clear the road. It took between 90 minutes to two hours to find the cabin's propane tank to make sure it was shut off, Scott said.
The cause of the explosion was still under investigation Saturday. Scott said the possibility of gas filling the house from an unknown source is being investigated.
Much of the scuttlebutt around at the cabin Saturday among neighbors and investigators had propane as the leading suspect.
Several other surrounding cabins also suffered some minor damage. One unoccupied cabin had its basement windows blown out by the blast, Scott said. Another had its door and windows sucked out by the explosion.
Power was knocked out to the area by the blast for the entire morning. The ski resorts were not affected.
Saturday afternoon, neighbors traveled up to the cabin to help collect whatever was salvageable. Pictures found hundreds of feet away were put in a pile along with a pair of skis.
Other items, such as a VCR found on the ground and the remnants of a Foosball table, could not be saved.
The cabin was custom built for Sanders about five years ago. Wood was shipped in from his home state of Virginia. On his back porch, which featured a picturesque view of Solitude Ski Resort, was part of an old chair lift that had been turned into a bench.
Saturday, the chairlift lay partially buried in the snow.
Investigators said because the scene is such a mess, it might take several days before a cause of the blast is uncovered.
