Peace Time Apocalypse
You Just Never Know
Hi Folks
Some readers have been asking about the 1979 train derailment in Mississauga. I was home when it happened. My brother Pat was visiting and we were watching TV with Dad. It was November 10, at around 12 midnight.
Something in Pat’s peripheral vision caught his attention. He got up and opened the curtains on the east side of the living room and yelled something indecipherable. “What the fuck?” would have been appropriate, but in those days Dad’s face would scrunch up like a wrinkled potato if we dropped an F bomb. I hurried over to the window and looked out. The entire area to the northeast pulsated with a flickering orange borealis while tongues of giant yellow flames licked the sky.
Get The Marshmallows
I thought at first that an apartment building, just a few blocks away, was on fire. Pat tried calling 911, which was understandably busy, and after waiting for a few minutes (an emergency service on hold!!) he was told the situation had already been reported. We went outside to the backyard and heard a loud hissing sound followed by a tremendous explosion. Less than thirty seconds later, there was a wave of heat. No wind, just intensity, like opening the door of a preheated oven.
This combination, hiss-blast-heat, happened twice more during the five minutes we were out there.
The Russians Are Coming
A neighbour lady was wandering zombie-like around the yard next to ours in her nightgown. When she noticed us, she asked, “What is it? Did an airplane crash?”
That seemed like a possible explanation. So did nuclear war.
It occurred to us that it was probably a good idea to return to the house for whatever flimsy protection it might offer.
Inside, Dad was listening to an emergency broadcast. A train with hazardous chemical and propane tank cars, had derailed near Mavis Road between Burnhamthorpe and Dundas streets. That was less than two kilometres from us. The big worry? Most of the tankers were badly damaged and it was feared that they could rupture if the situation wasn’t soon brought under control. “Too late” I said.
Both of my sisters were out that night but as all hell broke loose they made their way home. Jane described a chaotic scene of flames and smoke as her route home took her within half a kilometre of the derailment.
Anyway The Wind Blows
The train was hauling twenty-one tanker cars of explosive chemicals and one of Chlorine. Caustic Soda, Styrene, Toluene and Propane tankers were ruptured and quickly turning their liquids into gas.
Here’s the thing: Chlorine and explosive gasses do not work well together unless it’s World War 1 and the point is to exterminate the population of an entire area.
The molecules in gasses are relatively far apart in comparison to solids and liquids. These particles are full of kinetic energy and are constantly moving in straight lines until they collide with solid objects or with each other causing them to carom off at different angles like a chaotic game of pool. It’s an efficient process. The gas molecules “diffuse” or spread out quickly. Before they dissipate though, they can form into clouds which, in the case of chlorine, are lethal. Obviously, in a gas leak situation, the direction of the wind is of great concern.
Run For Your Lives
The next day, Sunday, two hundred and nineteen thousand people were advised to leave the city. It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an evacuation. The largest in peace-time history.
Emergency centers were setup in neighbouring towns. Within hours, shopping malls, schools, government offices and hospitals, equiped with cots, drinking water, para-medics and counsellors, were ready to receive the first wave of evacuees.
Our street was in the highest danger zone. By 9 AM the next morning officials were banging on doors. “you aren’t being forced to leave, but there’s a good chance poisonous gas will settle over this area”. Blunt and to the point.
“Are we going?”, one of us asked, probably me. Okay, it was me. Dad shot a sideways glance of incredulity he would use from time to time that meant “I’ve raised an idiot”.