They awoke to the sound of explosions and a sky blackened by smoke.

Residents of a west-end neighbourhood were stunned when a massive fire broke out at a scrap yard early Thursday.

"I saw black smoke. It was pretty early in the morning, about 5am, and it was absolutely black," described Vince Sozio. "It was amazing. Smoke covered the entire sky."

For some living too close to the Rogers and Weston Rds. industrial complex, it was an especially rude awakening as they were forced to leave their homes amid fears of smoke inhalation.

"Police were going around telling everybody just to start evacuating, get all your belongings and just stood outside until further notice," said Joe Manual.

A dozen homes were evacuated, and other residents stood by transfixed by one of the biggest fires they'd ever seen. It required about 40 fire trucks and 150 firefighters to extinguish the five-alarm blaze, pockets of which burned all day.  

"I looked up in the sky. I'm like, is that a tornado? I didn't know what it was. I saw huge flames," said Brad Jones.

Sean Kloosterman was out for a run when he noticed the smoke - he said he wasn't surprised the fire happened.

"They're always burning tires back there," he said. "I figured it was a matter of time before something got out of hand. My neighbours told me this is the fourth big fire they've had but this is by far the worst."

It wasn't long before a layer of potentially toxic smoke caused by burning tires, exploding batteries, hydraulic fluid and other car parts covered the west end neighbourhood, and the locals were worried about what it was doing to their health, as well as that of their families.