Main artery in North Bay reopened after trailer fire
A main thoroughfare in North Bay reopened nearly 24 hours after a vehicle fire early Wednesday morning.
Fire officials said a large transport truck carrying 4,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals caught on fire in North Bay around 2:30 a.m. May 31. The cleanup was complete and road reopened around 2 a.m. June 1.
Algonquin Avenue closed in North Bay after trailer fire. May 31/23 (Jaime McKee/CTV Northern Ontario)
It happened on Algonquin Avenue north of the Highway 11/17 bypass.
"The driver came off Highway 11, to head on to 17, noticed the smoke, then the fire and stopped," North Bay Fire Chief Jason Whiteley told CTV News.
"On this was a mixed load of dangerous products including dangerous goods and paint. We had lots of aerosol cans shooting, we had the chlorine in different forms, both liquid and powder form and other pool type chemicals on this truck that we were dealing with."
Karen Matthews lives near the scene.
"I opened my curtains and I saw flashes of orange in the sky. It’s unsettling because it’s not like anything I’ve ever heard before. I didn’t know if it was a storm or what was going on. I waited up for about 20 minutes when a neighbourhood watch group person then posted what was going on," Matthews told CTV News.
Other residents CTV News spoke to said they could hear the explosions and the smell this morning was very strong.
"We checked all the buildings in the area, in the immediate path of the plume of smoke and we evacuated everybody. It was just the Sobeys employees, about 10 people working," Whiteley said.
"Our diking procedures was to keep as much of the fire water run off and chemical run off from getting into our sewer system. We diked that early, so there’s a lot of water that needs to be taken care of."
No one was injured in the incident, but the road will be closed for most of the day.
"Barricades are Algonquin at Spencer and Shireff," North Bay police said in a news release.
"Motorists are asked to use Stockdale Road as a detour to Airport Road."
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
There is a large amount of water on the road as a result of the fire that will take a while to clean up, Whiteley said.
Algonquin Avenue in North Bay closed after trailer fire early Wednesday morning. May 31/23 (Jaime McKee/CTV Northern Ontario)
Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Environment are at the scene for investigation and clean-up.
By noon, the clean-up crew had made significant progress.
City crews stayed with police and monitored the scene.
As of 2:50 p.m. Algonquin Avenue is still closed.
In a news release sent at 3:50 p.m., OPP said officers are providing traffic control pending the vehicle removal and clean-up at the scene. They are expecting to remain at the scene for several more hours.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.