"I've been with the Fire Marshal's Office for seven years, and it's without a doubt, the most devastation I've ever seen."
Supervisor of Fire Investigations Manny Garcia admitted it could be months before an investigation into the July 11 house explosion that killed a Leamington couple is complete.
The on-site investigation has wrapped up, but critical pieces of a propane delivery system are still unaccounted for. Until those are found, the cause may be listed as undetermined.
"There's a small water inlet. Some pieces, no doubt, ended up in there. Some pieces may have ended up in Lake Erie," said Garcia on Tuesday.
The Ontario Provincial Police conducted a grid search of the area around the home and used metal detectors in the water, but to no avail.
"We don't work in probablys. We work in absolutes. And, in order for us to say that this was an accidental explosion because this failure or this component, we need the component to say that," explained Garcia.
It is difficult to calculate the force of the blast that killed David and Dianne Nadalin, but it reduced the house to "shards," Garcia said.
"When you take a look at the fact that cinder blocks were displaced 150 feet from their original position, I mean, that's an incredible amount of force," he said.
Garcia said he believes it could be at least two months before the final report is released publicly. He said the Technical Standards and Safety Administration would have to write its report, and the coroner's report will be needed too before the investigation can be called complete.
Unfortunately, that means the family will have to wait for closure.
"We would love no more than to say this particular part failed, or there was this incident, just to be able to bring some type of closure, but right now, we're just not there," said Garcia.
