Three years after a massive propane explosion ripped apart several houses in Toronto's Downsview neighbourhood, affected residents are waiting to find out if their class action suit has been approved.
The Sunrise Propane explosion on Aug. 10, 2008 was caused by an illegal tank-to-tank transfer and worsened by a congestion of trucks, structures, fencing and vegetation on the fuel depot's property. Several homes close to the Murray Road facility were badly damaged.
Three years later, thousands of Downsview residents are waiting to hear if they will qualify to be part of the class action lawsuit against Sunrise Propane's owners and management.
Lawyer Sharon Stosberg says a certification motion for the suit is expected to proceed at the end of October. It will decide whether the case fits the definition for a class action suit and who can participate.
The suit currently has seven named representative plaintiffs, but Strosberg says about 1,000 people have registered to receive further information.
The plaintiffs want the class to represent "all persons who were present or who owned, leased, rented and/or occupied any properties located within the area of the City of Toronto bounded by Keele Street, Highway 401, Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street on August 10th, 2008, when the hereinafter described explosions occurred."
If the judge agrees with this definition, everyone covered by that description will be part of the suit unless they opt out, Strosberg told CTVNews.ca.
On the day of the blast, a mushroom cloud erupted over the site, near Keele Street and Wilson Avenue. It killed Parminder Singh Saini, a 25-year-old Sunrise employee, and damaged hundreds of neighbouring properties. Firefighter Bob Leek died of a heart attack in the backyard of a nearby home.
A report released by the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office in August 2010 concluded that a tank-to-tank transfer caused the explosion. Several thousand cylinders of propane, bulk liquid propane storage tanks and cylinders of industrial gas were stored on the property.
At the time, City Councillor Maria Augimeri told CTVNews.ca that the report's recommendations confirmed what neighbours had long believed: that the depot was too close to a residential area.
On Wednesday, she called on the province to resume control of the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, the arms-length agency that governs facilities like Sunrise.
TSSA lauds improvements
The TSSA used to be a provincial agency, but was given arms-length status by the Mike Harris government in the 1990s. Its vice-president of operations, Michael Beard, told CTV on Wednesday that his organization has made a lot of progress since the explosion.
He said inspectors now visit Ontario's 1,300 sites each year instead of every three years, and site operators are now required to present risk management plans to the TSSA.
"The situation that occurred at Sunrise was an unlawful activity that took place at three in the morning," he noted. "So long as companies are ensuring they are compliant to the rules and regulations regarding propane safety, propane is safe."
Premier Dalton McGuinty echoed that sentiment on Wednesday.
"It's really hard to rule out human error, but as much as is humanly possible in terms of the kinds of protocols we put in place and the safety procedures, we've done what we need to do," he said. "We think that we have a system in place now that serves the public interest. We have confidence in the authorities that are there."
Rebuild continues
Meanwhile, one elderly couple from the area says they're still fighting with their insurance company to get adequate repairs to their garage.
Michael and Dianne Green, who live two blocks from the explosion site, say their insurance company's contractor made several significant errors when it reconstructed their garage. The Greens also say city officials admitted to missing defects when they first inspected the garage -- a claim the city says isn't true.
City Manager of Inspections John Dunn suggests the Greens' case is being blown out of proportion. He said an inspector did notice a foundation slab that sits above-grade upon a further visit, but told CTVNews.ca that "a rake and a shovel could have fixed that issue in an hour."
The couple would like their insurance company to pay for their garage to be reconstructed. They say they can't afford to hire a lawyer, and received a notice last week that their insurer, Belair Direct, is taking them to court in September to absolve the company of paying for further repairs.
"Belair has claimed, all along, that they are acting in good faith and are committed to be responsible and helping my parents," their son Jeff Green wrote in a release. "If so, then why hire a lawyer, and force my parents to court?"
A representative from Belair said the company would "love to provide more information" on the situation, but hadn't been authorized by the Greens to speak publicly about their case.
Green told CTV he remembers the explosion -- which occurred in the early morning on a Sunday -- like it was yesterday.
"It was quite something, never experienced anything like that before," he said.
