{"id":88914,"date":"2017-02-11T00:14:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-11T05:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=88914"},"modified":"2017-02-11T00:14:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-11T05:14:25","slug":"lawsuit-filed-in-connection-to-explosion-in-fort-mcmurray-fire-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/11\/lawsuit-filed-in-connection-to-explosion-in-fort-mcmurray-fire-aftermath\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit filed in connection to explosion in Fort McMurray fire aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The wildfire in Fort McMurray in May 2016. (Photo: Alberta Wildfire Info’s Facebook page<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta.\u2014A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against natural gas company Atco (TSE:ACO.X) in an explosion last May that damaged several homes in Fort McMurray, Alta.<\/p>\n

The blast took place in the Dickinsfield neighbourhood while the entire city was under an evacuation order because of a powerful wildfire.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges the explosion was the result of the improper restoration of natural gas service to the community in the disaster’s aftermath, Calgary-based Higgerty Law said in a news release Friday.<\/p>\n

Asked to comment on the lawsuit, George Lidgett, managing director of pipelines and liquids for Atco, said the company is \u201ctremendously proud\u201d of its efforts to respond to the Fort McMurray wildfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams worked around the clock to keep the power on to support emergency responders fighting the flames, provide housing for emergency response personnel and restore natural gas and electricity services before residents could return,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an industry-leading safety record, and always put the safety of our customers at the forefront in everything we do. Investigations into the incident continue and we will continue to work with local officials and our customers as details emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the allegations contained in the lawsuit, which seeks $10 million in damages, have been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Joshua Somers, one of two representative plaintiffs in the case, said the wildfire spared his family’s home but then the explosion ripped it apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been close to a year now, and the way things are going, we may not be back in our home for at least another year,\u201d he said in the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know why Atco didn’t stop our home from being partially demolished,\u201d he said in the release. \u201cThey have a lot of explaining to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Whalen, the other plaintiff, said his family has been living in a camper outside their damaged home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t know if or when our home will ever be the same, which has put an immense amount of stress on myself and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Higgerty Law said the suit is seeking to compensate anyone who suffered loss and damage to their property as a result of the explosion, covering repair and replacement costs, other expenses and mental and emotional stress.<\/p>\n

Higgerty Law is working on a separate proposed class-action suit related to allegations the city’s Walmart sold potentially contaminated food after the wildfire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta.\u2014A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against natural gas company Atco (TSE:ACO.X) in an explosion last May …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":75566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}