Residents of Winnipeg’s South Osborne neighbourhood are scratching their heads.
They’re trying to sort out what exactly happened at a two-storey apartment building on Clare Avenue and Osborne Street on Wednesday.
The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) says an explosion occurred in the building.
READ: Winnipeg apartment building damaged by explosion just before noon
And while it was clear the exterior of the building sustained damage, some in the neighbourhood disagree on the cause.
“I live right there,” said Dave B., who lives on Clare across from the apartment. “If something is going to blow up, I’m damn well going to hear it sitting outside with my dog.
“If there was an explosion, you’d see all this completely gone.”
Dave B, who says he used to work in construction for a living, tells CityNews he believes the cause was water damage.
“Nothing blew up,” he said. “It was just the window, the pressure between two things, you go like that, you start putting pressure on it, water starts pushing down, it starts to buckle, and that’s what happened. It buckled, popped the window right out.”
Winnipeg police say fire crews were called to reports of an explosion just before noon on Wednesday. They say no hazards or fire were found, and no major injuries were reported.
Police say the building was evacuated as a precaution.
James Coulter lives nearby and he says he also didn’t hear anything.
“I would have heard it, it would have went bang,” said Coulter. “Really loud. But I didn’t hear that, no.”
CityNews spoke to several other neighbourhood residents, none of whom say they heard any kind of explosion.
One man says he witnessed the window pop off from his porch on Jubilee Avenue, but there was no loud noise.
CityNews reached out to the WFPS about the disputed claims from residents. They said in a statement an explosion occurred in the building, and at this point of the investigation, is believed to have been caused by human activity.
They say it was not caused by water damage.
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