Fire investigators and an Edmonton Police Service arson investigator were looking into the discovery a man's body after an explosion blew apart an Ottewell neighbourhood duplex.

There were indications gasoline in the basement had ignited the blast.

Fire crews were called to a house at 6021 97A Avenue after reports of an explosion at about 5:30 p.m. on November 4th, 2006.

While there were hardly any flames, firefighters were met with thick black smoke.

Adam Osterlund, who lived next door to the duplex, described the scene to cameras.

"I was sitting in my basement watching TV. Then I heard an explosion like an airplane kinda crashed next door."

"I came upstairs, I looked out my picture window and you could see orange in his basement."

"I came out the front and his entire picture window blew out."

Then there was a second explosion that caused Dorian Purschke to call 911.

"My two neighbours are out, running aroud, yelling for him and I was telling them to stay back."

"There was nothing you could do. The house was just full of smoke. If you'd went in there you'd just be another body."

Osterlund and Mike Krawec, another neighbour, ran toward the house and yelled out to a man in his who lived inside with a pet cat.

A third explosion was heard, and it took six fire units a half-hour to bring the blaze under control.

Fire crews then found a man dead in the basement.

"It's a male, but we're not sure if it's the occupant or who that individual is," an emergency services spokesman stated.

The adjoining suite suffered smoke damaged but no inside was believed to be injured. The woman who lived in the unit was not home at the time.

Neighours identified the tenant of the duplex as Gary, about 45, who wore a scruffy beard and a baseball cap.

Asked by media what the man did for a living, Osterlund said: "Not too much, really. He was in-between stuff." He told the Edmonton Journal that Gary was unemployed and had a drug problem.

"He was mixed up in the wrong stuff, let's put it that way. It was just him and his cat."

Osterlund said the man told him he had an aunt in Sherwood Park and a brother in Jasper.

The victim appeared to be down on his luck as he asked Osterlund to borrow a few dollars just before the blast. Other neighbours said the man had recently gone door-to-door begging for cash.

Fire investigators waited for a warrant before they started their investigation inside the home.

They were joined by the Edmonton police arson unit which assists with fatal fires in determining if there was anything criminal involved.

"They have some idea of what may have occurred, but need to drain the water before they can wrap up the investigation," the spokesman said, adding no precautions were issued that would indicate a gas leak or evidence of an illegal drug lab at the residence.

However, Osterlund said the man was beaten up by someone inside his home recently.

"Three weeks ago, someone was inside [the duplex] kicking the sh*t out of him," recalled Osterlund.

By 11:20 p.m. on Saturday staff from the medical examiner's office removed the body of the man found inside.

In a report published by the Edmonton Sun on Sunday, November 5th, relatives of the man living in the duplex identified him as 46-year-old Gary Mastre.

Deryle Mastre, the man’s brother, said Gary had overcome hard times and was devoted to helping others.

Family said while the medical examiner’s office had not yet positively identified Gary as the dead man, relatives suspect it is him.

“If he was okay, he would have called us to let us know,” said Deryle Mastre from his home in Jasper.

He confirmed to the Sun that Gary lived at the address with his cat Missy.

“He was a pretty good-hearted person,” Deryle said. “He’d help out anyone he could. He was taking a lot of suspect people into his home and helping them out.”

The brother denied reports that Gary had been involved with drugs, but admitted he’d fallen on hard times.

"To be quite honest, he wasn’t a druggy or anything like that," Deryle told the Journal.

"He had a hard life, as many people do, but he was a very honest person who gave a lot. He had his life back together more or less."

Gary, who once lived in Jasper, was single and had no children. He had been working as a frame builder in the oilfields until recently and had been working odd jobs to make ends meet.

There was no word on the fate of his cat.

Fire investigators reported the explosion appeared to have been started by gasoline vapour being ignited in the home’s basement.

"We found some evidence of gasoline in the basement area. The fire originated in the basement," said fire investigator Daryl Breannan.

Breannan told the Journal it hasn’t been determined how the gasoline got poured on the floor. He said subsequent explosions after the initial explosion would have been caused by vapours trapped in nooks and crannies in the basement igniting.

Damage to house and contents was estimated to run to $200,000.

Osterlund, who visited Gary 45 minutes before the explosion and shared a cigarette with him, said he didn’t smell any gas vapours as the pair moved boxes out of the basement. He also didn't notice any strange behaviour on Gary's part.

Several days after the blast several media sources reported that investigators felt no foul play was involved. No official word has been released.