# Propane Plant Explodes - Ontario, Canada



## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

A propane plant exploded last night about 20-30 minutes from where I live. The really scary part is that the plant is located within a couple of kilomotres of a nuclear plant! Those nearby said it sounded like a military attack.









Sounds like all relevant emergency processes were put into play with great success as there were no reported casualties!









Apparently there are still about 500 homes without power. Actually this all happened in Thor's neck of the woods ... Thor, everything okay with you?









This underscores how cautious we need to be with our LPG systems in our TT's.

Wayne


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Wow, that would be terrifying. Hope all is ok around Thor's area. Maybe that's why we haven't heard from him today...?


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Be safe out there!


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Thor wasn't on today - someone want to send him a prompt to make sure everything is OK or am I being paranoid?

Wayne - is there a reason to be concerned?


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I had Thor's email so I just sent him a message.

I'm down in Arizona through Saturday so I'll try to check in later tomorrow night.


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## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

I don't believe there is reason to be concerned based on latest reports.

It may be that he was impacted by the power outage that occured and was simply not able to access his computer. Or he could just be really busy with something else???

The cause still hasn't been determined. Let's hope Thor logs on soon and fills us in.

Wayne


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## shake1969 (Sep 21, 2004)

I worked for a company for about 15 years that remediated disasters like you mentioned. Hess refinery in St. Croix; Terra Nitrogen in Sioux City; Shell in Norco, La, IMC/Angus Nitro Parrafin plant in Sterlington, La, etc, etc. Except for Hess, the explosions were massive. Hess was due to Hurricane Hugo.

I was in Baton Rouge around Christmas 1989 when Exxon blew up. That was probably 20-30 miles from me. Rattled the windows good and everybody heard it. And saw the column of black smoke. Asbestos and other materials were spread over a two mile or so radius.

Pretty scary time. Apparently a leak near a storage tank, and a poor soul drove a truck into the cloud of hydrocarbons. Instant ignition.

Unless Thor works there, I'd say he's okay. I pray all those around there are safe.


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## Paul_in_Ohio (Sep 29, 2004)

Last night on the news, they ran a story about a car exploding due to propane. Are you ready for this one... Seems the woman was out in the van sniffing propane. The husband went out into the van to talk to her about quitting. He told reporters that he went to light a cigeret... Boom!!!! The top of the van blew off and glass showered both houses next to the van. Both survived, hopefully a little smarter - Her for sniffing propane, him for the open flame near the stuff.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Hi everyone action

1st off all thanks for all the emails. I have not had a chance to reply to all yet. I will hopefully by the end of the weekend.

Well here are the details: ( I live about 2-3km away)

Just finsihed giving the kids a bath when BOOM! and the lights went out. Got lucky. I have a well and no power means no water.









Just after the 1st BOOM there were explosions every 10-15 sec. Stepped outside and saw the biggest fireball it my life. It was the best display of fireworks I have ever seen. In the distant you could see propane tanks flying everywhere. Lost power for a day and nobody was hurt. sunny

I have friends that live in the condos next to the plant. They had to leave their homes. They told me the entire build shook and when stepping outside the heat could be felt from the fireball









The plant was still burning the next afternoon. I believe they are just going to let it burn out. The 401 and the railway were closed because of the flying propane tanks!

Had the Outback parked in the driveway. Used the TT for bedtime story time for the kids. They thought it was great.







Yet another use for the "olde" Outback









Thanks again for all the messages.

Thor


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Thor, i'm SO glad nobody was hurt







!! Can't imagine seeing OR feeling that kind of explotion. Hope the kids weren't too scared. Glad to know all is ok. We all certainly were thinking about you and your family.


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## shake1969 (Sep 21, 2004)

Glad UR OK, Thor. A gas wholesaler went up here in Tulsa a few months ago. Gas bottles were flying around like rockets! The Outback--There When You Need It. Wonder if Keystone would pay me for that line?

Paul, sniffing PROPANE? Now there's a hobby. What kind of social life can that be? Qualifies her for a Darwin award!


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Good to hear from you Thor. Explosions are SCARY things! That one must have been incredible! I've been closer than I wanted to be to a couple explosions before...not fun! (and they were much smaller!)

Glad the family is ok. Thanks for the update.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Thor, good to hear from you - a bit worried there.

When I was a senior in HS I was watering the new grass in our front yard when I was knocked flat on my face. We lived in East Wenatchee and at the other end of the valley in the rail yard, a fertilizer rail car had exploded. When I turned to see what had clobbered me (we were five miles from the blast but up a hill so there was nothing between us and the blast - the pressure wave was well maintained - trust me) I saw a HUGE fireball. It was so big that I immediately thought bomb - it looked just like the pictures of nukes.

The effects were amazing. About a mile down the road from us towards the blast was a golf course and in one of the greens was a length of rail that was stuck in like a javelin - must have been about fifteen ft long and it flew four miles. The crater was 30 feet deep and probably a 100 feet across - completely eradicated the rail yard. There were parts of train cars and rails and ties everywhere on that end of the valley including inside a lot of houses. Half the busineeses in downtown Wenatchee had their windows blown out on the south and north sides of the buildings (the explosion was south of town). At a house across the river from the blast they had their refrigerator in the front yard the day after the explosion - it had a five foot section of rail through it. (Thing must have weighed a ton).

It took well over a year to completely repair all of the damage. Two people were killed outright in the blast. There were a lot of injuries from flying glass and one guy got hit by a peice of debris from the rail yard. Made me a firm believer in safety from then on. (Yup, my kids are sick of this story, funny thing, they are pretty much sticklers for safety too - I wonder if there is a connection?)

Brian


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## mary1 (Sep 19, 2004)

Wow, I'm from southwestern Ontario and I never even heard it on the news, usually things like that will be on tv unless I didn't hear it. Hope all is well!!!


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## dougdogs (Jul 31, 2004)

shake1969 said:


> Paul, sniffing PROPANE? Now there's a hobby. What kind of social life can that be? Qualifies her for a Darwin award!
> [snapback]18750[/snapback]​


I almost posted the same sentiment about Darwinism.

Great to hear that Thor and family are fine


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

The local paper headlines Bowmanville Explosion Worst of its Kind

A week old and still making front page news. Here are some cuttings from the story

The 1st blasts came at 7:43pm Tues night, when fire broke out at Caledon Propane on Port Darlington Rd just south of 401 in Bowmanville. The blze literally set off a chain reaction of explosions as the radiating heat ignited cylinder after cylinder at the storage facility. The fire was extinguished wed by 1:20pm, invesitagers are still looking for a cause and have not determined yet if the blze started in one of the cylinders or by a delivery truck. The delivery truck was carrying 5000 gal and the largest tank was capable of holding 18,000gal. If the tank would have been full it would have flatten 130 homes and businesses. More than 400 homes within a mile raduis were evacuated. People were being evacuated because there was concern about tanks exploding and flying through the air...not because of any environmental concerns.

Newspaper pictures shows a glow in the distant that could been seen for miles

Thor


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