0
Quote
TORONTO (AP) -- Explosions at a propane facility forced thousands of people in Toronto to evacuate early Sunday, and witnesses described the sky lighting up in the glow of an enormous fireball before turning black with billowing smoke.
Firefighters were battling blazes at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gasses facility hours later, and one firefighter died, authorities said. A worker at the plant was unaccounted for, said Mark Pugash, a spokesman for the Toronto police. Some residents suffered minor injuries.
The explosions early Sunday also shut down Canada’s busiest highway and a part of the subway system, snarling traffic for thousands of travelers. Mayor David Miller said the fire was under control, but the chance of another explosion still exists because it is a propane facility.
Some residents said the blast was so forceful they felt their homes rock as though they had been struck by an earthquake.
“It was just a tremendous explosion and blew all the windows out of the house, just blew the house up, and I just managed to get out of there in time,” said Robert Helman, who was covered in cuts and bruises as he fled his home.
Fearing the air had turned toxic, the police used bullhorns to order the estimated 12,500 residents within a mile radius of the plant to flee their homes immediately. Air quality tests later in the day showed the fumes were not toxic.
Firefighters were battling blazes at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gasses facility hours later, and one firefighter died, authorities said. A worker at the plant was unaccounted for, said Mark Pugash, a spokesman for the Toronto police. Some residents suffered minor injuries.
The explosions early Sunday also shut down Canada’s busiest highway and a part of the subway system, snarling traffic for thousands of travelers. Mayor David Miller said the fire was under control, but the chance of another explosion still exists because it is a propane facility.
Some residents said the blast was so forceful they felt their homes rock as though they had been struck by an earthquake.
“It was just a tremendous explosion and blew all the windows out of the house, just blew the house up, and I just managed to get out of there in time,” said Robert Helman, who was covered in cuts and bruises as he fled his home.
Fearing the air had turned toxic, the police used bullhorns to order the estimated 12,500 residents within a mile radius of the plant to flee their homes immediately. Air quality tests later in the day showed the fumes were not toxic.
News source here.
A video showing the fireball. You'll see it close to the end, as the guy was recording something else before he became aware of it.
Edit: News from the after effects.
Quote
Northwest Toronto is picking itself up and dusting itself off after yesterday’s massive propane explosion turned the area around Wilson Ave. and Keele St. into a wasteland.
There’s a lot of dusting to do.
With some parts of the 1.6-kilometre evacuation area around the devastated Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases distribution plant still closed, mainly because of asbestos pollution, residents and business people are trying to get their lives back on track. Many say they don’t have insurance to pay for the damage.
A series of blasts just before 4 a.m. yesterday flung bright orange fireballs into the air and sent about 12,000 residents, many of them elderly, fleeing from their homes, most still in their night clothes.
As of midday, police spokesperson Mark Pugash said about 50 people would not be able to immediately return because their homes are uninhabitable, with “significant damage” including blown-out windows and destroyed siding.
Those people are being housed in an evacuation centre at York University. Pugash said he didn’t know of any houses levelled to the ground.
There’s a lot of dusting to do.
With some parts of the 1.6-kilometre evacuation area around the devastated Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases distribution plant still closed, mainly because of asbestos pollution, residents and business people are trying to get their lives back on track. Many say they don’t have insurance to pay for the damage.
A series of blasts just before 4 a.m. yesterday flung bright orange fireballs into the air and sent about 12,000 residents, many of them elderly, fleeing from their homes, most still in their night clothes.
As of midday, police spokesperson Mark Pugash said about 50 people would not be able to immediately return because their homes are uninhabitable, with “significant damage” including blown-out windows and destroyed siding.
Those people are being housed in an evacuation centre at York University. Pugash said he didn’t know of any houses levelled to the ground.
News source.
Edited by Soul, 11 August 2008 - 21:55.
