Skip to content

Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Monday’s headlines

Read more articles by

PROPANE FIRE
Zoning

Residents say propane facility had no place near houses [ CBC.ca ]
Plant OK’d under old law [ Toronto Sun ]
Firm moved in beside us, residents say [ Toronto Star ]
Gas blast causes bedlam in Toronto [ Globe and Mail ]
Heads must roll over disaster [ Toronto Sun ]

Evacuation
Thousands flee gas blasts [ Toronto Sun ]
Thousands forced to evacuate homes [ Toronto Star ]
Weary evacuees waited, worried [ Toronto Star ]
Massive propane explosion forces thousands from their homes [ National Post ]
Asbestos preventing 3,000 residents from returning home [ Toronto Star ]

People
‘Maybe the world is going to end’ [ National Post ]
‘All you saw were flames coming’ [ Toronto Sun ]
Propane blasts ‘sounded like warfare’ [ CBC.ca ]
‘Everybody out! Everybody out! My face just got blown off’ [ Toronto Star ]
‘A propane tank went flying into the air and landed in a different spot’ [ National Post ]

Police & Firefighters
Extra police watch ordered to prevent looting near site [ Toronto Star ]
Cooling the tanks, not dousing flames, key to controlling fire, firefighters say [ Toronto Star ]
Veteran firefighter dies while battling early-morning blaze [ Toronto Star ]
Firefighter dies battling huge fire at propane depot [ CBC.ca ]
Firefighter remembered as intelligent, helpful colleague [ Globe and Mail ]

Miscellaneous
White cloud the first sign of danger [ Toronto Star ]
Explosion snarls city traffic for hours [ Toronto Star ]

URBAN FOREST
Are dead trees an eyesore or a cause for concern? [ Toronto Star ]

4 comments

  1. ‘Bedlam’ really isn’t used often enough in regular conversation.

  2. Look, bad stuff like this happens every once and a while, and decisions about zoning, etc, need to be made when people have calmed down so cooler heads can prevail.

    “Heads must roll over disaster” is the sort of over-the-top, heat-of-the-moment thinking that I’m suggesting should be avoided. The propane facility was probably too close to residents, but consider that something clearly went seriously wrong for this to happen (failure in safety checks, procedure, something).

    I don’t think it would be good in the long run for us to force propane distributors into the middle of no-where with a massive buffer zone around them.

  3. I agree the heads must roll is too heat-of-the-moment. First is to let the Ontario Fire Marshall complete their investigation, then decide how to fix it.

    The ideal is not to move propane facilities far from people, in case they blow up, the ideal is to make sure they don’t blow up in the first place. Then people do not need to worry about living near one.

    BTW the corner gas station is just as dangerous, especially when the tanks are being filled by those large gasoline tanker trucks.

  4. This link is to an INFORMATION EXCHANGE community for those concerned about potential FUTURE dangers related to this incident (whether accidental or deliberate – as none of us yet know). There is information here that, though in the media, most people are not aware of, and we encourage you to share whatever you know, so that we can all be as informed as possible.

    Please consider participating – each one of us HAS the potential to make a difference!

    http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23478054063&ref=mf