Huge explosion rocks Toronto

[DPDarkPrimus]

Video right here.

Less than an hour ago, there was a gigantic explosion in Downsview Park, and a subsequent explosion was caught on camera in the above link - and that one is apparently less than the initial blast.


No news article to post because there aren't any hard facts available yet, but I'm sure we'll know more in a few hours.

[DPDarkPrimus]

http://community.livejournal.com/torontophoto/

[cosmicalstorm]

Holy fuck that looks like a small nuclear detonation

[Keevan_Colton]

Before anyone asks, I have an alibi.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Details trickling in

TORONTO - Police are evacuating a northwest Toronto neighbourhood (Keele & Wilson) following dozens of explosions at what residents say is a propane depot.

Witnesses at the scene early Sunday morning said the explosions were occurring every few seconds and shook buildings in the area, waking residents from their sleep.

Clouds of black smoke can been seen billowing hundreds of metres into the air.

Scores of police and emergency vehicles are on the scene trying to keep people out of the danger zone.

There has been no word of any injuries.

So it's probably a propane depot that went up, and we don't know why or if anyone is killed or hurt.

[Superboy]

What kind of area is Downsview Park? It's not in a heavily populated area or anything, is it?

The video link calls it a gas station explosion. I didn't think a gas station could cause an explosion that big.

[hongi]

For a second between the reading of the title and the loading of the page, I had the really horrible thought that it was a terrorist attack of some kind...thanks for the heart attack.

[Jadeite]

I have a feeling a lot of people just died. I really hope I'm wrong.

[Keevan_Colton]

What kind of area is Downsview Park? It's not in a heavily populated area or anything, is it?

The video link calls it a gas station explosion. I didn't think a gas station could cause an explosion that big.

Downsview Park itself is a fairly open area right next to Downsview Airport. It might have been storage near the airport that went up, we'll need to wait and see. The danger isnt so much the explosions themselves, they're easy enough to get folk away from. It's the bits of stuff thrown in the air by them and the principle of gravity.

[CJvR]

Holy fuck that looks like a small nuclear detonation

Any detonation/combustion which heats up a massive amount of air will generate a muchroom cloud - it really have nothing to do with nukes. Although it sure looks like on on that picture...

[CJvR]

If it is near the airport then it might have been a jet fuel depot?

[Jadeite]

Someone on SA found the area on google maps, if its this plant that went up, it looks like its surrounded by houses and an apartment complex.

[hongi]

Shit. I thought a propane tank would be isolated. I hope no one was hurt.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Don't know about injuries but I know that some blocks have been evacuated and the police are standing by to evacuate more areas as well.

[DPDarkPrimus]

A couple more videos people caught of the second explosion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbw_K8pfNfo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjsdlBk6PUY

Rumor has it that propane tanks have been launched by the explosion and are coming down all over the residential areas.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Aaaaand apparently the propane station that exploded is located next to a bunch of university residences. Which, hopefully, means that they weren't occupied at the time.

[Sephirius]

Oh shit, that's what that sound was at around 345 this morning.
it sounded like someone fell over in my house, but now I know what it was. And I live in scarborough!

[Surlethe]

There's no mention of this on NPR, the BBC, or even in the AP newswire.

[Andrew J.]

There's no mention of this on NPR, the BBC, or even in the AP newswire.

Hopefully that means they're not bothering because no one was killed.

[Simmon]

CP24 (The local news service)- Minor injuries only.
And yeah, its a resedential area.


at the picture in 2nd post.

[Dartzap]

BBC

Residents flee Toronto explosion

Thousands of people have been evacuated following an explosion at a propane gas plant in the north of the Canadian city of Toronto.

A two-mile (3.2km) exclusion zone was set up and police ordered residents of the Keele and Wilson areas to leave their homes.

The series of explosions at 0350 local time (0850 BST) on Sunday also shut down one the city's busiest highways.

Police say no-one was seriously injured in the incident.

Witnesses described the sky lighting up in the glow of an enormous fireball before turning black with smoke, and some residents said the blast caused their houses to rock.

"It was just a tremendous explosion and blew all the windows out of the house. I just managed to get out of there in time," local resident Robert Helman told the Associated Press news agency.

Firefighters battled the blazes at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases facility for several hours.

Toronto fire services division commander Bob O'Hallarn said that firefighters were close to extinguishing all the burning tanks, significantly reducing the risk of another explosion.

"I think we were very lucky," he said. "There was a very large of amount of fire when we arrived. It could have been much more serious."

Mr O'Hallarn said he saw at least five badly damaged houses, adding that it could be hours before residents are allowed back to their homes.

[FSTargetDrone]

Police say no-one was seriously injured in the incident.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case:

Firefighter dies at scene of explosions at Toronto propane facility, thousands forced to flee.

Zosia Bielski and Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008

TORONTO - A 25-year veteran Toronto firefighter has died after fighting blazes that followed a series of massive explosions Sunday at a propane storage facility that forced the evacuation of some 12,000 residents in a suburban neighbourhood.

It was not immediately clear whether the death was related to the explosions or from a medical condition. Toronto fire officials say one of the firefighter's colleagues found the firefighter had collapsed on the ground and called for help.

"It wasn't traumatic circumstances," said David Sheen, division chief.

"It was just in the course of him performing some operations that he went down," he added.

"It's hard. All of our guys are having a rought time of it," said an emotional Sheen, who said the firefighter's name will not been relased until his family is notified.

Firefighters, police and emergency rescue workers have been on the scene of the propane facility since a still undetermined number of explosions rocked the area surrounding Keele and Wilson Aves.

Thousands of people evacuated from their suburban Toronto neighbourhood are re-living the horror of being awakened by the blasts. One large shopping mall nearby was also evacuated.

"Our windows blew. Everything blew out. Doors were blown open. Our door handles actually came off. Light fixtures had fallen. We had glass all over our staircase," resident Vicki Arciero said. "It was like a nuclear explosion."

She said her family took shelter in their basement, just three doors away from Sunrise Propane facility, until emergency services workers came to help them evacuate the area.

"I thought it was an earthquake with the noise and the way my building shook," said freelance photographer Sarah Millar.

Stefano Valente was working his night shift at a grocery store when the blast occurred.

"The store started shaking like crazy," he said. "Windows were flopping in and out like they were rubber. Stuff was falling from the ceiling like snow. Things were falling from the shelves, a couple of us fell. It was the most intense thing I've ever experienced."

Valente ran from the store and saw a big mushroom cloud that "reeked," he said.

Division Commander Bob O'Hallarn of Toronto Fire Services said damage to homes and businesses in the area is still being assessed.

"I saw homes with very heavy damage, but I would not classify it as completely destroyed. I've seen (homes) from explosions before where it's nothing but a pile of rubble. I didn't see any of that here," he said.

"There's five homes that I saw that have damage, but there's more than that. I saw five, but it was dark when I was down there and I didn't see the entire area."

Well into Sunday, firefighters were still working to contain a number of "spot fires" at the facility.

"It was a very difficult fire to fight because of the heat and the amount of fire was spread over a very large area," O'Hallarn told a news conference a few hours after the explosions.

"When the initial explosion went off, or one of the explosions went off, it obviously spread fire all over the general area," he said.

By mid-morning, he said that situation had improved.

"We had an unknown number of tanks, I had various reports of two or four tanks that had flames impinging on them, that were venting and burning," he said. "We have that down to one large . . . tanker of (liquified petroleum gas) and one of them that was burning and venting is no longer venting, or venting only sporadically now."

O'Hallarn said police have spoken to a driver who was in the facility early Sunday morning.

"He was filling up his truck and he saw some either smoke or some type of gas and went to report that and left the area. As he was leaving the area there was an explosion."

O'Hallarn said by mid-morning another smaller, tanker trailer still had flames emerging from beneath it, which he said may have been the tires burning.

"It's not venting at all and it may very well be empty as well. So the situation is better than before," he said, although he said there are still a number of "spot fires" that need to be extinguished and a number of other propane tankers "all over the yard of different sizes."

Arciero said just two days ago her daughter had voiced concerns to her mother about living so close to the plant and that they should move. They have lived in the area for 16 years. She said the plant came in four years ago.

"That shouldn't be there," Arciero said.

A section of Highway 401 south of the explosion remained closed Sunday afternoon and aircraft are not allowed to fly near the area.

"Highway 401 remains closed across the top of the city. There is 16 kilometres of 401 closed, from Highway 400 over to Highway 404 and that's really the main part of Toronto. It's the busiest part of the 401 which is the busiest highway in North America," said Ontario Provincial Police spokesman Sgt. Cam Woolley. "Traffic is being re-routed, but the alternate routes are quite busy. But it's going quite well considering the size of the closure."

Woolley said this is the biggest closure of the 401 in the highway's history.

Subway service in the area surrounding the explosion has also been shut down.

Subway stations at Downsview, Wilson and Yorkdale are closed until further notice, while subways on the Yonge-University-Spadina line are turning back at Lawrence West station.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says several bus routes in the area of the explosion are also being diverted. The TTC continues to run a shuttle service for residents being evacuated from the site.

Elaine Smyer, the manager of emergency planning for the city of Toronto said as many as 12,000 residents could be affected by the evacuation. Speaking from York University where a shelter has been set up for evacuees, Smyer could not say how long the evacuation was expected to last.

"They can stay with us until we can determine whether they can return home or if they need to find other places of accommodation."

She also asked people with friends and family near the scene of the blast to not travel to York in hopes of connecting with those people.

"We're trying to get to all the residents in the area, trying to get them out," said Toronto police Sgt. Dan Martin.

A still undetermined number of explosions erupted from the Sunrise Propane facility in North York at about 4 a.m.

Police said the company stores and distributes a number of highly flammable welding supplies and such gases as acetylene, argon, nitrogen, propane and oxygen which police say is "highly explosive." The cause of the explosion has not been determined.

He said he has "no idea" what's in the tankers, but said "it's probably propane, because it's a propane facility. But who knows? It could be methane, it could be anything."

Sgt. Peter Laufer said the owner of the company told police there are eight employees who have not been accounted for.

"But they may have been away for the weekend. They probably wouldn't have been there at that hour, anyway."

"There's a possibility there were people in the building, but nothing is confirmed," Martin said. "We won't know until the situation has calmed down. Until the fire is out we won't be able to get in there to investigate."

O'Hallarn said one other resident of the area remains unaccounted for. Emergency Services spokesman Peter MacIntyre said one person was taken to hospital with a minor ankle injury received while evacuating his home.

"We've treated some minor injuries at the scene," he said. "Other than this one individual, we have not transported anyone else. It's people we have treated for minor cuts and bruises. We have notified all the area hospitals so they are on standby. They are aware that they could be having an influx of patients and many people will choose to go to the hospital on their own."

Huge billows of dark smoke could be seen from the area of the blast. Several images of the explosions, and videos of the fireballs going off were posted online soon after they occurred.

The City of Toronto has set up a hotline for those trying to contact evacuees - 416-736-5185.

National Post with files from Matthew Coutts

[Invictus ChiKen]

I'm just thankful this isn't as bad as it could have been...

Still one death is more than enough to make this event even more tragic than it already was.

[Enigma]

I've seen the news footage and man I am surprised that there hasn't been more than one death (there may be a second death). One footage you can even see the shockwave.

[Dark Hellion]

I think someone was trying to get more accurate TL calcs.