Looting near Toronto blast site

Looters near blast site concern police
Majority of residents allowed to return home; 1 employee of Sunrise Propane still missing

Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, August 11, 2008

TORONTO [Ontario] – Toronto police say they are on guard for potential looting at the scene of a massive explosion in the city’s northwest end that forced thousands of people from their homes.

There have been a “small number of reports” of looting in the area, said Mark Pugash, a police spokesman. The area has been flooded with uniformed and undercover officers to “send a clear message that we are there and what our expectations are,” he said.

Pugash said the vast majority of residents have been allowed to return to their homes in the Keele Street and Wilson Avenue area, after a series of explosions at a propane facility and a mushroom-shaped fireball explosion early Sunday morning ripped through the area. About 12,000 people were evacuated.

One firefighter died at the scene. And one man remains missing – he has been identified as Parminder Sarminion, an employee at Sunrise Propane.

A number of streets closest to the blast remain off limits after the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office found asbestos late Sunday.

Monday morning, a group of about 20 frustrated residents congregated within sight of smouldering propane yard, looking for answers. They complained nobody had told them why they were being kept away from their homes or when they might be able to return.

“That’s my house on the other side of that truck,” said Kathy Todish. “I can see it, I can almost touch it, but I can’t tell how bad the damage is. The walls are still standing but what does that mean? What about the foundation?”

Todish fled their house after the first blast, and could see the red flames from the second, larger explosion rising above them as they ran to safety.

Pugash said the Ministry of the Environment is looking into whether there is an asbestos danger along the streets that remain cordoned off. “We won’t allow anyone in the area until we know it’s safe.”

Some nearby business owners returned to the scene Monday to find their stores had been looted.

Toronto police would not confirm how many businesses had been targeted by thieves.

Officials from the Ontario fire marshal’s office were expected to begin sifting through the remains from the blast to try to determine what set it off.

The blast was so powerful that it blew out windows and literally shook hundreds of residents from their beds. It took firefighters 16 hours to get the blaze under control.

Toronto District Fire Chief Bob Leek, a 25-year veteran of the service, collapsed and died near the scene. It was not immediately clear whether the death was related to the explosions or from a medical condition.

Meanwhile, all lanes and ramps of the nearby Highway 401, Canada’s busiest highway, were reopened Monday for the morning rush hour. Transit buses were also expected to run on a normal schedule and route in the area, officials said.