Insurance and fire investigators were examining the remains of a building Sunday to determine the cause of an explosion that leveled the two-story structure and injured a man.
The man was in a second-story apartment in the building that housed Good Times Adventures when the blast occurred around 11:20 a.m. Saturday.
Neil Rosenberger, a battalion chief with the Red, White and Blue Fire District, said it took about four hours to free the man, who was buried up to his chest in debris.
Brian Holt, owner of the business that offers snowmobile and sled-dog tours, said today that the man’s name is Brian Mislanski.
He worked for the Breckenridge-area business.
Mislanski was the only person in the building. He was flown to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver.
A hospital spokeswoman said Sunday he was in critical condition.
Fire district spokeswoman Kim Scott said it likely would take several days to determine what caused the explosion.
Rosenberger said Sunday that arson has been ruled out, and investigators are focusing on a propane leak or methane from the sewage system as possible causes.
Rosenberg said the victim was taking a shower when the building blew up.
“One of the firefighters just happened to hear him,” he said.
He said rescuers were worried about more debris falling on the victim, and didn’t want to use heavy equipment.
“We didn’t want to make his situation any worse,” he added.
Witnesses told fire officials they could see a mushroom cloud from a quarter-mile away. Rosenberg said the debris field was a half mile in diameter and insulation was in trees 100 feet tall.
Holt told the Summit Daily News that Good Times Adventures closed for the season March 30. He said Mislanski was house-sitting for the managers, who live in the building’s upstairs apartment.
Rosenberger said Mislanski is a mechanic and was doing maintenance on all the vehicles. The other couple who live in the upstairs apartments were out of state this weekend, he said.
No nearby buildings were damaged. Holt’s 140 sled dogs were housed a ways off and were in good condition.
Mislanski’s dog was missing. Rosenberger said Mislanski told rescuers he had let the dog outside before he stepped into the shower. Searchers are hoping the animal will be located.
Tim Schlis, who was on vacation, told Denver’s KUSA-TV that he was nearby when he heard the blast.
Schlis said he and his friends walked toward the site but backed off when they smelled natural gas.
“There was a cloud going up 800 feet, 1,000 feet in the air,” Schlis said. “Big hunks of plywood just flying through the air and we thought somebody had dynamited something ’til we started seeing insulation fly everywhere.”
