Early in the morning on Sunday, Aug. 10, a series of massive explosions at a propane facility lit up the darkness, its booming sound waking up residents as far as seven kilometres away from the Downsview-area site.
Here's how things unfolded:
Sunday, 3:50 a.m. Police receive initial calls about the huge explosion, which took place at Sunrise Propane, near Wilson Avenue and Keele Street. Many residents flee their homes, with some congregating at Yorkdale Mall.
4 a.m. Toronto Fire Service rush to the four-alarm fire at the blast site.
4:17 a.m. Police set up command post at Keele and Wilson.
4:24 a.m. Blaze at blast site upgraded to five-alarm fire.
5 a.m. Blaze upgraded to six-alarm fire.
5:45 a.m. Emergency workers begin to evacuate nearby residents onto buses, taking them to Yorkdale Mall.
9 a.m. Police announce plans to expand the evacuation zone to the area surrounded by Sheppard Avenue and Highway 401, and Dufferin and Keele Streets, fearing further explosions at the facility. Highway 401 was closed between the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 400.
10:05 a.m. TTC announce closures on numerous bus routes around the area and shut down Downsview, Wilson and Yorkdale subway stations.
10:17 a.m. The City, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army open an evacuee reception centre at York University.
11:15 a.m. Police announce that the threat of the fire has been reduced after flames on one of two burning fuel tankers are extinguished. It's also revealed that one person is "unaccounted for" after the blaze, a Sunrise employee named Parmindar Saini.
2:03 p.m. Firefighter Bob Leek found without vital signs on Legion Street near Murray Street.
2:24 p.m. Yorkdale Mall evacuated as a precaution.
2:29 p.m. TTC service resumes at all stations
3:30 p.m. Mayor David Miller, who was on vacation in Vancouver, speaks to the media by teleconference.
7:46 p.m. Ontario Provincial Police begin reopening Highway 401.
8:00 p.m. City announces residents from the evacuated are will be allowed to return home with a police escort.
8:50 p.m. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day makes a public statement.
9:03 p.m. Lawyer Dan Ronen from Sunrise Propane makes statement and issues condolences to Bob Leek's family.
9:49 p.m. deHavilland says its employees at a Bombardier plant near the blast site will not have to go to work on Monday morning.
10 p.m. Evacuated residents say they are still not being allowed access to their homes.
Tuesday, 1 a.m. Many residents begin heading back home. About 3,000 required to stay out of their houses after asbestos dust from houses detected.
8:32 a.m. Police announce that about 50 of the houses near the blast site have been deemed uninhabitable.
