Sunrise Propane blast report to be made public sooner after councillor’s urging

TORONTO – The details of an investigation into a series of massive, early morning propane explosions will be made public after a city councillor created a public outcry by leaking excerpts.

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office was already in the process of distilling the nearly 300-page report into an executive summary to be made public when Coun. Maria Augimeri put out her own release, a spokesman said.

Local newspaper and TV outlets talked of the “confidential” report and quoted Augimeri and residents near the Sunrise Propane blast site demanding the full report be released.

“I don’t see why it has to be kept from public view,” said the councillor who represents the area in northwest Toronto that was hit by the explosion nearly two years ago.

“I think that people in the Downsview area are owed an explanation.”

The fire marshal’s office follows a process that sees parties involved in legal proceedings get an incident report first, then if the case is of significant public interest the office releases an executive summary, said spokesman Chris Williams.

It’s not clear how Augimeri obtained the report, but it appears as though her demands that the findings be made public came at a time when the fire marshal’s office was already close to doing so.

“The release that was made in the media certainly sped things up, but one has to respect the ongoing legal proceedings and other stakeholders that are involved in the process,” Williams said.

As with all investigations, the full report will be available upon request, Williams said.

Augimeri’s office did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment.

The report found a leak during an illegal propane transfer was to blame for a series of explosions that sent fireballs hurtling into the early morning sky over a Toronto neighbourhood on Aug. 10, 2008.

Thousands of residents were ordered to leave their homes following the blast, major highways were shut and two people died.

Parminder Singh Saini, a 25-year-old Sunrise employee who had been in Canada just eight months to study manufacturing management at Sheridan College, was killed in the explosion.

Bob Leek, 55, a firefighter who responded to the emergency call on his day off, also died after collapsing at the site.

The Technical Standards and Safety Authority had previously issued a cease and desist order on Sunrise instructing them to stop tank-to-tank transfers.

Augimeri is calling on the Ontario government to make the authority an accountable government agency, in light of its warning that apparently went unheeded.

“How many deaths is it going to take?” she said at a news conference Wednesday. “How much loss of life? How much loss of property before this government actually starts to care about community safety?”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today