A series of explosions and a large fire at a hazardous waste facility in the Niagara Region left one person with serious injuries and triggered the evacuation of nearby homes and businesses on Thursday as crews worked to prevent further blasts at the building.
The fire broke out at Ssonix Products 2010 Inc. in St. Catharines, Ont., just after 6:30 a.m., with crews responding to reports of multiple blasts and finding the blaze had spread to a neighbouring industrial building as well.
St. Catharines Fire Services said a man working at the hazardous waste facility, who was the only person inside at the time, was taken to hospital with serious burns.
The fire was still burning Thursday afternoon in a section of the facility that held chemicals for paint, with crews working to prevent the flames from spreading to other parts of the building.
"There's a lot of aerosols in the one section of the building, and in the other section of the building there's another chemical that we're looking to take care of that's ... parasitic," said fire Chief Dave Upper.
"That there is a bit of a concern because if it gets heated up it is toxic and can explode, so crews are working to make sure that we cut that off."
The fire was deemed "under control" by Thursday afternoon but crews were still working on hot spots, Upper said.
The fire service tweeted late Thursday evening that the blaze had been extinguished.
A neighbourhood north of the facility had been evacuated earlier in the day due to a "black plume" of smoke blowing toward the area, Upper said, with residents sent to a community aquatics centre. Others in the area were advised to stay inside, keep doors and windows shut and turn off furnaces to avoid letting outside air in.
Kelly Dobratz, who lives less than a kilometre from the facility, was among those evacuated and said she heard a "huge noise" just after 6:30 a.m.
"I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not, I ran to look out all the windows and all of a sudden my neighbours were all outside," she said, adding she ran outside to learn more.
"We're all standing there in disbelief ... There was the initial explosion and then multiple explosions after."
Dobratz said she saw a massive plume of smoke in the sky and could see the flames of the fire, which looked "catastrophic."
"We could see people trying to leave their houses because you couldn't tell if the fire was going to spread to neighbouring (areas)," she said. "We were then evacuated because of the smoke."
Aaron Reid, who lives in nearby Niagara Falls, Ont., also heard blasts Thursday morning.
"I don't know exactly what the distance is from me to where the explosion was but it's probably in the 20-kilometre range," said Reid, 34. "I heard a 'boom, boom,' and I thought to myself 'Oh, that's weird.' It almost sounded like thunder."
It was only after he opened up Facebook while making coffee and saw reports of explosions in St. Catharines that he realized what he likely heard.
"I was surprised I was able to hear the explosion from that far away," he said.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe stressed that residents should stay out of the area of the fire, saying some had tried to get closer or fly drones over the site to take pictures and video in the hours after the explosions.
"Without mincing words, give your heads a shake," said Siscoe. "You're not making things better, you're not making things easier, you're not being helpful. You're making things actively worse. Please allow our fire services to do their jobs."
The local fire department said Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal was beginning an investigation and utility Enbridge was securing gas lines to the site.
The Ministry of Environment was performing air quality monitoring and water runoff was being diverted from Lake Ontario. The Ministry of Labour and the Technical Standards and Safety Authority were also investigating.
The St. Catharines fire broke out just hours before an explosion at a fuel distribution company in Quebec. Public Safety Canada said there were no national security concerns related to either case.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2023.
Jessica Smith, The Canadian Press
