Wow!
Here's some info from Fox.....
'Fireball' Explosions at Toronto Propane Facility Force Evacuations
Sunday, August 10, 2008
TORONTO — Explosions at a propane facility forced thousands of people to evacuate a northwestern Toronto neighborhood early Sunday, and witnesses described the sky lighting up in the glow of an enormous fireball before turning black with billowing smoke.
Police said there were only minor injuries, but firefighters were battling blazes at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases facility hours later.
The series of explosions around 3:50 a.m. EDT also shut down the city's busiest highways and a part of the subway system, snarling traffic.
Toronto fire services division commander Bob O'Hallarn said they are close to extinguishing all the burning tanker trucks, significantly reducing the risk of another explosion at the fill up facility.
O'Hallarn said he is aware of only minor injuries among nearby residents, although one person is unaccounted for.
"I think we were very lucky," said O'Hallarn, who was surprised by the extent of one of the explosions. "There was a very large of amount of fire when we arrived. It could have been much more serious."
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.
Frightened residents within a one-mile radius were ordered to evacuate immediately, and police brought in buses to take residents out of the area.
About a dozen terrified residents — some clad in pajamas and housecoats — found their way on foot to nearby Yorkdale shopping mall, where security offered them water and a place to rest.
O'Hallarn said thousands were evacuated but he 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 area around the explosion.
O'Hallarn saw at least five heavily damaged homes and said windows were blown out a fair distance from the scene.
He said most of the residents were evacuated to a nearby university. He said it could he hours before residents are allowed back.
O'Hallarn said he saw large parts of metal on the street and said it looked like they were from tanker trucks.
A truck driver at the facility checked himself into a local hospital and seems to be OK, O'Hallarn said.
TO