A huge fireball lit up the night sky just before 2am Tuesday as a hydro vault in the city's east end went up in flames.
A dozen houses had to be briefly evacuated along
Fairside Ave., a block from Toronto East General Hospital near Coxwell and Mortimer Aves., as firefighters rushed to the scene to put out the inferno.
Though the blaze died out almost as quickly as it started and affected residents were allowed to return home, nearly 3,000 people saw their power cut for close to five hours. Those who saw the fire were amazed at how big and bright it was.
"Just a huge amount of flame coming off the hydro building, and we were just up the street and stood there and watched it," described Bob Healey, who lives next to the substation.
He was enjoying a quiet evening at home when all hell broke loose.
"I heard a couple of bangs and booms and next thing I heard was a doorbell ringing and somebody kicking the door. My daughter got up and she yelled 'dad the house is on fire.' "
"I'm an electrician and have seen transformer fires, but that was a dandy," he added.
Division Commander Andrew Kostiuk explained why the explosion was so fierce.
"Transformers are actually filled with mineral oil, no longer PCB.'s and if it gets hot enough to catch fire it's quite a spectacular fire."
The affected area stretched from Fairside to Woodmount, and from Barker to Cosburn.
By about
7:30am
the lights were back on for most of the affected residences, and hydro crews managed to fully restore power by about
9am
.
There were no injuries reported in the blaze, and the investigation is ongoing.
"We haven't determined what the cause of the fire is, (
Toronto
) Hydro will have to do that," notes Cmdr. Kostiuk.
It may be some time before the cause of Tuesday's fire is pinpointed, however it's not believed to be suspicious. Strangely enough, the substation was in the process of being decommissioned anyway. Now it'll be taken out of service even earlier.
Viewer photo courtesy
CityNews viewer Irby Lemus