Updated: A loud bang heard throughout much of Greater Victoria on Friday night — so loud it rattled houses in Saanich — was the result of a controlled explosion overseen by police at the Saanich Public Works Yard on McKenzie Avenue.
Due to a mix-up, Saanich police initially said they were not involved in the noise, but issued a statement Tuesday explaining what happened.
Officers with the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team who helped with a high-risk arrest in Victoria on Friday found explosives during a search of a residence, said Saanich police spokesman Markus Anastasiades in the statement.
Officers determined the explosive items needed to be destroyed immediately, he said.
The seized explosives were destroyed in the Saanich Public Works Yard at 1040 McKenzie Ave. at 10:30 p.m. Friday.
“The explosives detonated were louder than usual, which [was] heard and felt by several residents in Saanich. These residents did call our non-emergency police line and spoke to an officer, who explained the situation to them,” Anastasiades said.
The emergency response team notified Saanich police about what they were doing before destroying the explosives, but because a police file wasn’t generated at the time, and the operation wasn’t performed by Saanich police, Anastasiades said he wasn’t initially made aware of the incident.
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Earlier story:
Call it Greater Victoria’s own Big Bang. So far, there are lots of theories but no answers.
The bang heard in Victoria, Saanich and Langford late Friday was reportedly so loud that it shook windows.
People from Royal Oak to Chinatown and Langford reported hearing a noise that sounded to many like an explosion, following by a second much quieter sound around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
“Shook my damn windows,” said one reddit user, who wrote that they heard it from their home near Quadra and McKenzie, and it sounded like it came from close by.
Another person writing from Lakehill in the upper Quadra area said they felt the vibration of the noise and heard the sound through their headphones.
Some wondered if it had been a car crash, but questioned the lack of sirens.
Others quipped that they were responsible for the noise. “Sorry, folks … It was chili night,” one person joked.
“Was probably a train. Lots of those on the island lately,” said another, likely a nod to ongoing discussions about reviving Vancouver Island’s rail system, as a deadline looms for the federal government to decide whether it’s going to provide funding.
Theories were swirling on social media over the weekend, with many suggesting Saanich police had detonated something.
A comment online claimed that someone responding to Saanich police’s non-emergency line had said officers detonated some unexploded ordnance in the public works yard.
But spokesman Const. Markus Anastasiades said there was no truth to the rumour. Anastasiades said police are aware of the noise but do not know what caused it.
Likewise, the Saanich Fire Department said it was not involved.
B.C. Hydro, meanwhile, said there were no reports of blown transformers or anything else power-related that could have caused the loud noise.
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