Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Seawed on August 10, 2008, 02:11:16 pm
-
Story here: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/08/10/explosion-rocks-west-end-photos-reports.aspx
My girlfriend and I live on the 17th floor of 1 Canyon Avenue, near Bathurst and Sheppard apartment facing this mornings explosion. We were up watching TV at around 3:45 when we heard a thundering sound, felt our windows tremble and the building shake from where we sat. My girlfriend, Lisanne, said ``That isnt thunder`` and we both got up to look out the balcony window. We were completely shocked to see a huge pillar of fire that appeared to be 10-20 stories tall, and a black cloud of smoke that spanned the sky eastward toward Earl Bales park. My mind raced in a panic to understand what was happening. It looked as though a plane had crashed or a bomb had fallen. Could it be a terrorist attack? After a few minutes of watching, we were completely shocked to witness an amazing mushroom cloud explosion of flame and black smoke that terrified us entirely. I have never seen anything like it. It was so loud and big that for a moment I thought it was a nuclear explosion. For the next hour or so, we heard and saw a series of explosions, each with enough force to shake our windows. The fire seemed to get bigger for some time and at one moment we saw a flaming piece shoot out some 50 yards or so, although it is hard to tell exactly how far since we are situated a major intersection away. We did see a spectacular show of explosions, and sparks coming from the scene. We saw emergency vehicles coming from all sorts of directions, and two hours later it seemed to subside. By sunrise, the fire seemed to be mostly contained.
(http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.nationalpost.com/713298.bin)
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbw_K8pfNfo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV5udSWJcZo
All I can say is "holy fuck". I have family living in Toronto. Better call to see how they're doing. This is some crazy, crazy shit.
-
Wow, wait, what. Jesus. I hope any GWers in Toronto are safe.
EDIT: And anyone, obviously.
Jesus. Here's hoping there won't be many injuries, this looks massive. :(
-
That's pretty crazy. The big explosion on the second video is pretty nuts.
-
Hooly shit. I didn't think that explosion on the second video was going to stop getting bigger.
Is there any other news that anyone can find? I hear it was at a propane gas plant but I dunno whether it was intentional or what.
Seriously crazy. I'd be shook as fuck if that happened near me.
EDIT: From Canadian Press - "Police say there were only minor injuries, and firefighters are still battling blazes that are still raging."
Lets hope that's true.
-
The police and fire department are going to give us an update in about 20 minutes or so.
I have friends who live a block away from the explosion, but I haven't been able to reach them yet. Looking at the site now though on live tv, the buildings around the blast don't seem to have been affected that much, other than broken windows, so hopefully there weren't any causalties.
-
It's the trashcan man! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand#Las_Vegas
-
Holy fucking christ that's a big fireball! Can you imagine how scared those people must have been to see something like that?
I can just imagine everyone being really confused because who the hell wants to nuke Canada????
-
Man, I love how the guys in the video are like "hey cool explosion let's stand here and video tape" instead of panicking and trying to evacuate. You canucks are hardcore.
I'd probably watch it too. My first thought would be "oh shit cloverfield is real!"
-
haha yeah that first video really is reminiscent of cloverfield
....or should i say cloverfield is reminiscent of real-life emergencies?
-
wow, when i first saw that video and looked at the fireball, the first thing i said to my brother was "holy shit, it's just like cloverfield"!
-
It's the trashcan man! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand#Las_Vegas
First thought too! God I loved that book when I read it.
-
First thought too! God I loved that book when I read it.
Indeed! Now I gotta find it somewhere and reread it.
-
whoah. it's pretty scary hearing all the people you can't see who are watching it suddenly scream at the big explosion.
-
I knew it! Being the weird person I am I wake up and watch T.V or do something in the A.M hours and then go back to sleep. I was up just before 4:00am and I heard two like sound boom sounds, that's the best way I can describe it. I'm not exactly that close to that area but wow. The sound was so loud I check the news for any warning alerts or something.
-
Those were some pretty terrifying videos. I'm really hoping that few people were actually hurt by this.
Wow...
-
Holy shit, this is crazy. I'm reading the articles to find out what caused it, and so far all I know is that it's a bunch of tanks of either methane or propane. I don't think there's anything on what actually caused them to explode!
I watched the videos, and noticed how there was a lot of screaming during the explosion. It was like the whole city was screaming at the sight of the explosion. I'm hoping for the best and no deaths, but christ that explosion is huge.
-
Let me put it in perspective, I heard the sound and I'm almost certain I heard car alarms (my brother confirmed this) around my area. This is the distance from my house roughly and the explosion area.
The top portion circle is the explosion area.
(http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/953/distanceaz6.png)
-
Hahaha, I was in Downsview Park on Friday for Mayhem Fest. That would've been one hell of a fireworks display.
-
Holy fuck, that's one massive explosion.
-
Holy shit, this is crazy. I'm reading the articles to find out what caused it, and so far all I know is that it's a bunch of tanks of either methane or propane. I don't think there's anything on what actually caused them to explode!
I watched the videos, and noticed how there was a lot of screaming during the explosion. It was like the whole city was screaming at the sight of the explosion. I'm hoping for the best and no deaths, but christ that explosion is huge.
Thick black smoke, bright red flames, and the mushroom cloud shape signifies that it was something compressed that ignited entirely. That there's a Class Bravo fire alright!
Something in the back of my head tells me it wasn't an accident. I simply can't believe that, with all the protocols in place today, an accident like that would occur. Whoever was at ground zero was either instantly incinerated or suffocated from the smoke and gas. Please, fellow GW Canadians, update us with a casualty report/damage as things change.
-
Wow. I was safely 'working' at the airport when this happened. That's scarier than the year of the power grid failure!
-
8 people injured, one dude unaccounted for. Check out CP24 for like a ten minute video that's actually being updated from time to time.
http://www.cp24.com/
Originally it was 4 transport trucks containing liquid propane that got ignited. The fire fighters thought they were rail tankers and now they got it down to one truck that's seems to be in control and they are extinguishing it. Natural gas was shut off and thousands were evacuated to a near by university. Subways were closed in the near by area and what not too.
Toronto quick services, weeeeeee.
Update:
All eight wounded were sent home and okay, a driver who was near by got injured because of glass shards seems to be the worst case. The fear was that there might have been a second explosion which would have been pretty damn bad since people were closer now. The houses/business windows and doors were destroyed but that's nothing compared to what could have happened.
What was the cause, no clue yet. Let me tell you that there was a thunderstorm last night that was pretty severe.
-
whoa. pretty crazy! You're right, illusionist, it could have been a lot worse! My housemate got up early and took off which is kinda weird.. i know his sister lives a little bit further north than us, i'm not sure if its close to the explosions or not. hopefully her place isn't damaged though!
who would be responsible for paying for the repairs??
-
I just heard, word of mouth, that a fireman died.
-
I'm afraid that's true, Dudesoft: http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/475696
-
Hearing those screams in the second video reminds me of the 9/11 videos, which are the only things that I can think of that actually SHAKE ME TO THE CORE, seriously.
-
yeah this is fucking insane. I actually thought it was thunder at like 4 AM :\
-
oh my gosh, i was staying in canda at this time, pretty close to toronto. i don't remember if the sound woke me up or if i had woken up before that, simply because i often wake up in the middle of the night. my friend was sleeping over, and he was in a bed across from me. i was laying there with my eyes closed trying to fall asleep again. suddenly i heard a HUGE noise. i thought it was thunder, but it lasted for longer than thunder usually would. i looked at my friend and we both had our eyes wide open, surprised at the sudden noise. it had been storming on and off for the past couple days, so we both assumed it was just a storm. he whispered, "was that thunder?" and i was like "yeah, i think so. wow..." and we both went back to sleep.
i just realized after seeing this post what it was.
-
Hearing those screams in the second video reminds me of the 9/11 videos, which are the only things that I can think of that actually SHAKE ME TO THE CORE, seriously.
yeah that's what i was getting at! i really don't ever want to be in a place where that kind of terror just erupts all around me. i mean, this didn't turn out to be anything too drastic, aside from the fireman who has apparently died, but even knowing that watching that video and thinking about it. sheesh!