The New Westminster Police Department's Major Crimes Unit is investigating an explosion that happened late Monday afternoon at a home near 10th Street and Fifth Avenue, which sent one person to hospital with significant burns.
"Our patrol members attended, what was reported as an explosion, to the 1,000-block of Fifth Avenue," said Staff Sgt. Paul Hyland of the NWPD.
When the officers arrived at the scene they found a man sitting outside the home. He had severe burns and was taken to a local hospital, where he remains in serious condition, Hyland said.
No one else was injured, but police evacuated people in the surrounding homes as a precaution and closed off Fifth Avenue.
Hyland said the Major Crimes Unit has determined the resident accidentally ignited "a container of flammable material causing a flash fire that blew out his front window".
"He was dealing with materials he can legally possess that were flammable," Hyland said. "(The items) caught fire and caused a bit of a flashover."
