8:45AM EST: A series of massive explosions rocked Toronto early Sunday morning, frightening residents into thinking bombs were being dropped in the area.
YWN has learned that the explosions were caused by a huge fire at the Sunrise Propane facility in the Northwest Toronto neighborhood of Keele and Wilson.
The explosions forced police to order the evacuation of a large number of frightened residents.
Witnesses who live in the area said they were awakened by a thunderous explosion at approximately 4:00AM and saw the sky light up bright orange before it turned black with smoke.
(Click on image to ENLARGE) YWN received more than a dozen emails from frightened readers in the area. One resident living 6 miles away described the explosions to YWN at 4:23AM: “I thought we were under attack, my house even shook twice. No one is quite sure yet what it is but were told by local radio its some sort of building containing chemicals and the building has gone up in flames – as high as 30 stories. This is about 6 miles from my home and can be heard very clearly with lots of smoke in the air”.
Police reported at least two injuries, and the fire department said residents living in a 1.6-kilometre radius had been forced out of their homes.
The propane supply has reportedly been shut down, but police warned there could be more explosions until the remaining propane in the tanks is burned.
Police brought in buses to take residents out of the area to the Yorkdale shopping centre southeast of the scene of the explosions.
Some people moved away from the danger zone were wearing masks.
Police with megaphones were warning residents that the air was toxic and they should leave immediately.
Some terrified residents walked to the shopping mall in their pyjamas. Mall security helped keep them calm and offered them a place to rest.
Police said there were workers at the propane facility, but it wasn’t known how many or if they were safe.
As of this posting, there are two people reported to be injured.
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.
YWN will update this story as soon as additional information is available.
(Yehuda Drudgestein YWN Desk – NYC / YW-88 / YWN-MD03)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
9 Responses
Is this close to the yiddishe neighborhood???
#1
Not far.
The explosion was about a mile west from Yeshivat Or Chaim and Clanton Park shul, for those who know the downsview area. Initial concerns werew that the significantly Jewish and frum neighborhood would also be evacuated along with thousands who are closer. The fire is more under control now, so the evacuation is narrower and may be lifted completely soon. What IS of concern is that the Mount Sinai Memorial Park, a small beis Hakvoros in the area, is located right next door to Sunrise PRopane where the fire happened. It may be that some matzevos were damaged in the explosion, as many reported windows and doors being blown out. Since the area is cordoned off, no one has been in to see the damage.
I live 8 mins away from where this ocured, which is considered the frum area of Toronto. At 3:50am there was a huge thunder noise which I thought was normal since there were severe thunderstorms on shabbos, even though it was very loud and the house shock a bit. But then the noise was constant. It sounded like there were bombs being thrown every 30 seconds. It was really scary, especially when we turned on the radio to hear what was going on, they were not sure themselves but some callers called in to say that they were seeing fire balls in the sky. And that debris was falling from the sky. They also said that the army was sent out. We soon decided to leave the area and went to stay by a relative in the other direction. B”H no one, that I know, was hurt but H’ did shake us this Tisha B’av. May we be zoche to see the Beis Hamikdash rebuilt very soon!!!
#3, even though clanton park area is about a mile west from the explosion, were the people who live in the area affected??
Clanton Park area is about 1.5 km. EAST of the area. There is a highrise very close to the explosion site that has many Jewish residents. Heard of no casualties, just minor injuries, except a fireman who collapsed and one missing employee. There was a poweful bang at 3:40 a.m. and a few smaller ones. 3:47 a.m. another super blast, then more for about an hour. Really puts you in your place on 9 b’Ov. Black clouds visible in the morning. The major highway is closed for a 16 km. stretch. The fire is almost over, but there is a concern about a tanker loaded with almost a quarter of a million litres of propane. That’s why the area has been evacuated. I live in the thick of the Yiddish area about 5 km. from the fires.
U’vo l’Zion go’eil bb”a.
We live quite a bit north of there, in Thornhill,a couple lights bit south of Highway 407, and we felt the bangs here, not knowing what they were but waking up to them. Only after my husband came home from shul this a.m., did I learn what the sounds were.
I was more concerned for my parents who live not too far from the site; the explosions, they told me, kept coming for an hour and reminded my parents of the bombs during the war. Traumatizing, to say the least, because of fear of the unknown.
The earlier commenter is correct about the Jewish cemetery, which houses many Canadian WW II veterans, and is very close to the explosion site.
What a Tisha B’Av tie-in that was early this morning.
whenever theres a tragedy, its a wakeup call even if it doesnt happen to jews. hashem is calling us out!!
Fire ended and tanker did not blow up, or else you would have heard it in the borsht belt too. CBC reports that had it ch”v gone up it would have flattened a one and a half km. area around the site. Nevertheless, they only evacuated those whose homes were affected and those very nearby, only 12,000. That’s not very responsible. Fireman died. Tomorrow they might begin investigation. Residents may return to their home and the highway, the busiest in North America, is now open.
How do city appointies allow for such a flammable facility to locate in the middle of a residential area of a city of 2,500,000 people is beyond me.