A busy stretch of Highway 401 fully reopened hours after a fiery crash left one person dead early Monday
The collision happened in the eastbound lanes of the highway at Avenue Road at around 5:15 a.m.
A truck carrying paint products was stopped on the south shoulder of the road east of Allen Road when a tractor-trailer carrying skids of chalk drifted onto the shoulder and slammed into the rear of the parked truck.
The impact of the collision caused drums of paint to spill out onto the roadway.
The second truck then struck the centre barrier and a light pole, spilling chalk into the eastbound lanes and westbound express lanes.
The truck subsequently burst into flames and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Explosion sounded ‘like a bomb’
Toronto Fire Capt. David Eckerman told CP24 Monday morning that crews were called to the scene after callers reported seeing flames across all lanes of the highway.
A woman who lives in a condo near the highway told CP24 that she was awakened by the sound of an explosion.
“I was asleep and all of a sudden I heard two booms while I was sleeping,” the woman said.
She initially thought that the sound was related to ongoing construction along the highway, but then she heard a louder boom that shook her awake.
“It was like a bomb going off,” she said.
She said the reflection of the aftermath caught in a nearby building looked like “a river of fire” on the highway.
“The smoke was so black – at a certain point you couldn’t even see out the window,” she said. “I phoned 911 and they said the responders were on their way. They did come and the smoke eventually turned from black to white so then you know they’ve got it under control.
“But it was so frightening. I live close to the 401 and I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
The fire was under control shortly after 5:30 a.m.
No other injuries were reported.
All eastbound express lanes were closed at Allen Road and the westbound express lanes were shut down near Yonge Street, for several hours following the collision but all lanes have since reopened.
Eckerman said police had a lot of work to do to clean up the crash.
"They’ll oversee the towing operations... the Ministry of the Environment will have to inspect the catch basins for the paint thinner that has gotten in there into the waterways," Eckerman said.
"The highway will have to be cleaned by the (Ministry of Transportation). So it is going to be pretty extensive."
