Wheatley residents and businesses remain in limbo one year following town centre explosion

The fate of Wheatley's town centre remains unknown, and some residents and businesses continue to be on the outside looking in a full year after an explosion tore apart its downtown core.

The explosion, which is suspected to have been caused by a gas leaking from abandoned wells, took place the evening of Aug. 26, 2021. It destroyed two buildings, injured 20 and left nearly 100 households and dozens of businesses displaced.

Earlier this year, the municipality of Chatham-Kent shrunk the evacuation zone around the blast but work continues to plug gas wells discovered in the area of the explosion. By its most recent count, 37 households remain displaced, 21 businesses are still closed and the investigation into the cause of the blast has never been concluded.

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent said right now there is no timeline for the town centre to reopen.

"Building officials will confer with businesses in the affected area once work has been completed on capping wells and related site work," said the municipality through an email.

This leaves many questioning their future in and around the town centre. 

We checked in with community members and business owners most affected by the blast to see how they are coping one year on.

A year ago, Barry Broadbent negotiated with fire crews to try and save his stock of frozen chicken inside his restaurant, Car Barn, just metres away from the blast site. Today he is left uncertain about the future of his business inside the town centre.

"I think it's going to be really tough to convince the consumer or the residents or the business people in Wheatley ... that it's safe to come back," he told the CBC.

"It happened years ago and it's now happened again so obviously, we're dealing with something that isn't 100 per cent guaranteed."

Broadbent said the 15 staff members that worked at his restaurant have moved on and if they were able to reopen, there are many unknowns including inflation and other costs that have risen since he was forced to close. He also doesn't know the extent of the structural damage to his building. 

"There's just so many things that could adversely affect you," he said.

He has been getting by running a catering business out of a trailer, as well as making use of a business interruption insurance policy but that expires after a year which is now up.

"After this Friday, I'm on my own, I'm still not in my building so all the expenses are going to have to be incurred by myself," he said.