Years and years ago in 1918 on Thanksgiving Day in my hometown, a fire raced through the British Chemical Company plant igniting explosives that blew the building apart and the fire lasted most of the night.
All of the windows in town were blown out by the explosive blast and shock wave but luckily nobody was killed.
Eva Curtis, the town's telephone operator stayed at her post throughout the night for emergency calls despite glass blowing past her. She along with seven others were rewarded the medal of the Order of the British Empire for staying in the danger zone throughout horrors of the night. Miraculously no one was killed.
What got me to thinking about this was the recent explosion on Sunday morning of a propane storage depot in Toronto. Sadly one firefighter was killed and many local residents were injured. The many explosions sent large pieces of metal — likely from tanks that exploded — flying into nearby streets. Homes were damaged, windows shattered and doors were ripped from their hinges. About 200 firefighters battled intense heat to fight spot fires that continued to burn into Sunday evening.
An evacuation of the immediate area meant up to 12-thousand people had to seek a safer distance until the all-clear was given.
It reminded me of a scene from the movie Cloverfield. Any way, here's video of one of the massive explosions caught on film by an amateur in the area.
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