An apartment building on Ashwood and Riverview in Yorkton has been reduced to rubble.

That from Fire Chief of Yorkton Fire Protective Services Trevor Morrissey, as he described what the scene was following two different fires – one last night (Mon) and another this morning (Tues) and an explosion from the second floor of the building this morning.

Morrissey says when one of the walls came down, it ruptured a natural gas line.

“We still have that gas line feeding some natural gas into the rubble. We are attempting to locate, with SaskEnergy, that gas line so we can get that shut off and mitigate that portion of the incident.”

SaskEnergy has been at the scene since early this afternoon, and advised the City of Yorkton earlier in the day that they’re managing the situation, and according to Morrissey, the leak is contained in the rubble. Nearby homeowners – initially asked to evacuate immediately as a result of the gas leak – were allowed to return home.

Fire crews remain at the scene to continue their assessment of the aftermath, but Morrissey says some challenges are present.

“It’s reduced to debris…and its coated in ice…and its just unstable, so those are the things that we contend with when we try to dig through something like this.” he said.

The Fire Chief says there was an explosion on the 2nd floor of the building this morning, which resulted in 2 firefighters receiving minor injuries, and there were indicators of forcible entry into the building before this morning’s blaze.

Morrissey says they continue to work with the RCMP as much as they can, and asks people to stay away from the scene.

“It’ll be fenced off. I would encourage that nobody try to go near or too close to it because [of the] debris – its unstable, its nails and its not a safe place to be.”

Meanwhile, Serendipity Yorkton has bins set up at the store to accept donations, whether it be household items or cash donations for affected residents.