Thousands evacuated in Toronto after explosions at propane facility

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This article was published 10/08/2008 (6549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Vivid orange balls of fire lit up the early morning sky Sunday as a series of massive explosions at a north Toronto propane facility set off a chaotic scene with terrified residents running from homes damaged by fire and shattered glass.

Police ordered the immediate evacuation of thousands of residents, many of them elderly, within a 1.6-kilometre radius of the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases in the Keele and Wilson area of northwest Toronto following the 3:50 a.m. blast.

A no-fly zone was ordered above the site of the explosion and the city’s busiest highways were ordered shut, snarling traffic for thousands of travellers unable to exit Highways 401 and 400 for kilometres.

Emergency crews were fearful of another explosion as two propane tanks continued to burn more than five hours after the explosion.

Air testing showed initial concern that the fiery blast had turned the air toxic was unfounded, a fire official said.

Witnesses said they were awakened by a thunderous explosion and saw the sky light up in the glow of an enormous fireball before it turned black with billowing smoke.

“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.

Some residents said the blast was so forceful they felt their homes rock as though they had been struck by an earthquake. Windows were blown out and flash fires continued to put homes at risk.

Helman said he saw a “huge fireball” and heard “multiple explosions.”

As he ran out of his house, a “wave of a heat” followed him.

Ricardo Oliveira, 24, was on the third floor of his house when he received a call from his girlfriend who heard the explosion and was frightened. He told her it was probably just a thunder storm, but then came an unmistakable blast.

“My windows just cracked and they blew out,” Oliveira said.

“My whole room lights up orange and I look out. I live on the top floor so I had a perfect view. And I just seen a huge ball of flame hundreds of metres in the sky, big black pillars of smoke.”

“We got freaked out. My family woke up. They thought it was a plane that went down,” he said.

The first explosion sounded like a loud thunderclap and could be heard at least seven kilometres away.

It was followed by a series of more muffled explosions.

Clouds of dark smoke could be seen rising hundreds of metres into the air. Provincial police began closing all access to Highway 401 between the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 400 at about 7 a.m.

Toronto fire services division commander Bob O’Hallarn said he feared for the safety of emergency crews.

“We are trying to cool off the tankers to keep them from getting any worse, building up more pressure and potentially exploding so there is definitely some danger for our personnel right there,” he told a news conference.

An emergency worker with Bombardier, which has a facility in the area, said he saw houses on fire. The worker, who did not want to be identified, also said he saw propane tanks dropping from the sky.

Police brought in buses to take residents out of the area.

About a dozen terrified residents — some clad in pyjamas and housecoats — found their way on foot to nearby Yorkdale shopping mall, where security offered them water and a place to rest.

Some reported that a woman covered in burns was taken by ambulance to hospital after her ceiling collapsed on top of her. Others paced the mall entrance waiting for word from loved ones or police, anxious to return to their homes.

Beatrice Zampini, 48, wiped away tears as she sat in the mall’s makeshift emergency shelter, her teenage son and daughter by her side. She hadn’t heard from her husband, Gino, who disappeared in the midst of the chaos.

“He was going to check on my parents, but the explosions were getting louder and louder, so the three of us just ran and ran and ran,” she said.

Her daughter Daniela, 19, woke up to the explosion, which sent her ceiling light crashing to the ground. She fled outside with her family, only to find the street teeming with panicked neighbours.

“Everyone outside was saying, ‘Run like hell!”‘ she said.

“Everyone was just running down the street. It was like something from a movie.”

Many describe the area as a tight-knit community where extended families lived just a few doors down from each other.

While police couldn’t immediately identify how many people would be affected by the evacuation request, census data of that part of Toronto suggests that there could be as many 12,500 people and 5,300 private dwellings in the 1.6-kilometre area around the explosion.

Many were being taken to a command centre set up by police.

Some people moved away from the danger zone were wearing masks.

While police said there were only minor injuries from the blast, some residents said they were hit by the fire balls. Several people drove themselves to hospital.

Police with megaphones were warning residents that the air was toxic and they should leave immediately.

Scores of police and emergency vehicles were on the scene. A police spokesman said officers had been dispatched from all divisions.

A city taxi driver said he and his co-workers fill up their cabs at Sunrise Propane, which also provides 24-hour emergency service.

The company’s website says it also serves residential, industrial and agriculture clients. The industrial gas it supplies includes nitrogen, propane, helium and argon. Sunrise Propane also provides safety training for propane and dangerous goods certificates.

Propane is stored and transported in a compressed liquid form, vapourizing only when pressure is released.

The gas is an asphyxiant, meaning it cuts off oxygen to the body and can cause suffocation. Exposure to high levels of propane can cause a plethora of health problems, including frostbite if it touches skin.

–The Canadian Press