Dozens of children escape injury after explosion causes 'catastrophic' damage inside Toronto daycare

Dozens of children have escaped injury after an apparent explosion occurred inside a Toronto daycare on Thursday afternoon, authorities say.

Firefighters tell CP24 they were called to the childcare facility located in a plaza at 4679 Kingston Road East near Morningside Avenue after 2 p.m.

Deputy Chief Jim Jessop says that the explosion appears to have taken place in an area inside the centre where dozens of kids would have typically been gathered. But he said that those children were in an adjacent building doing some other activity at the time and were therefore unharmed.

“The damage inside the daycare where the obvious explosion occurred is substantive and catastrophic. I don’t even want to think as to what we would have been responding to had those children and their teachers and supervisors been inside at the time,” he said. “Certainly the outcome would have been significantly less happy than it is right now.”

Jessop said that there was extensive damage observed in the area where the blast took place, including blown out ceilings and windows.

He said that crews have disconnected the gas to the building as a precaution but are still in the very early stages of investigating what might have caused the explosion.

He said that structural integrity of the building will also have to be examined in the wake of the blast.

“Anyone in that unit at that time based on what I personally observed would have suffered significant, significant injuries. The entire unit has been destroyed,” he said.

Jessop said that the teachers at the centre are owed a “great debt of gratitude” for managing the situation before emergency crews got to the scene.

He said that some of the adults suffered minor lacerations as a result of broken glass but managed to avoid more serious physical injuries.

Meanwhile, TTC buses have been brought to the scene to provide shelter to children and staff while they wait to be reunited with their parents.

Jessop said that the investigation into the explosion will be getting under way shortly and will involve investigators with the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Fire Services and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal.

“I want to absolutely thank and congratulate the adults and the teachers for their job today in dealing with this emergency,” he said. “When our crews arrived the supervisors had the attendance done, had kept the children calm and safe and we owe them all a great debt of gratitude.”