Posted on 08/10/2008 6:01:40 AM PDT by xcamel
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The explosion seen from the Keele Overpass Image: Michael Gil.
A large explosion has been reported at a propane depot in northern Toronto on Keele Street, near the Highway 401, at approximately 3:48am EST. The cause is currently unknown.
A person who was 10km from the explosion told Wikinews that "my house shook 10 km away. The sky was rumbling every few seconds."
A user on YouTube named "wolfshades" said that "we don't know whether the explosion was chemical or by virtue of its proximity to the Toronto Airport if a plane had crashed."
It is not yet known if the event caused any injuries, although Michael Gil, a contributer to the photo sharing site Flickr, said that "people are hurt."
Large numbers of police are on the scene to keep people away from the explosion.
I was on the design team of a propane truck loading facility years ago.
A couple numbers stuck in my brain because I was amazed at how powerful a propane blast could be.
A 60,000 gallon tank half full, if ignited, should produce a ball of flame 300 feet tall and 1,000 feet around.
The code was written to first address if found, should a fire even be fought or simply run away as fast as you can. They address several items on how to address if it was past time to leave. Such as bulging in the tank or rising pitch of the emergency relief valves. The point the code made was if you were fighting the fire, you were too close if a tank ruptured.
looked like a mushroom
And my wife complains that I got a generator - a stinky diesel generator. I won’t have that to put on video. I won’t have the money to buy the video camera with the diesel prices either!
We should file these accidents etc,,, into a big terrorism folder. I can't even keep track of all the explosions, wilderness fires, train derailments etc,,, Much more than I can even recall in the past.
A plant also burned yesterday which caused considerable damage that has already been ruled as a arson attack
I’m inclined to agree with you. This was a massive explosion, people in Niagara Falls, which is at least 60 Km away saw the sky above Toronto light up like a fireball.....unreal.
Thanks for the Youtube links. Poor quality, but quite interesting none the less.
Dude...get a crip. Everything isn’t terrorism. Yeesh
Dude...get a grip. Everything isn’t terrorism. Yeesh
ping
No kidding. I think that some people are forgetting that these things happen. They were happening before bin Laden and they will happen after he is gone and forgotten.
It does get really ridiculous though hearing people shout terrorism every time there is an accident.
“Yes, the lack of media coverage of this so far is astonishing. “
It’s Sunday.
Youtube trolls are out in force today.
There are such records existing, for industrial fires and explosions, going back a long way. People have been desperately trying to link them all to terrorism for the last 7 years. There's been no particular increase in them. The only reason why someone would perceive more of them is the "attention effect" - you're simply looking for them. There were such explosions and fires all through the 90s. You simply weren't paying attention or making note of them.
Things that are flammable simply accidentally burn or blow up. There was a spate of horrific grain elevator explosions in the late 70s. Those weren't terrorism.
I’m supposed to spend 4 days in the Days Inn on that road, about 2.4 kilometres from the facility, starting August 20th. Hopefully, whatever damage was done to the hotel will be fixed up by then.
Should be alright, think most of the damage was within the vicinity of about 1.5 km. Although I’ve just seen video on tele that showed the shockwave, pretty nuts, looked like a MOAB.
Cool. Although I guess it would have been interesting to be there when it happened......
We are taking in Canada’a Wonderland as part of our “tour of theme parks” this summer, and also catching the typical toronto tourist traps.
Any “non-tourist-traps” that you think might be particularly interesting for a family of 4 with a 12 and 15-year-old? We will probably hit the needle, the castle, a couple museums (you know, stuff on the “6-tourist-traps for the price of three” ticket....)
Sadly a firefighter has died
Officials have confirmed that a firefighter has died after being found without vital signs at the scene of the massive propane explosion in the Keele and Wilson area. The cause of the 25-year veteran’s death is still not clear.
source for the above is 680 all news radio
Royal Ontario Museum is pretty cool. Also, take a walk on Bloor Street, around the intersection with Bathurst.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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