Four-block radius evacuated after fire breaks out at London auto repair shop
Residents of three east London streets endured a day of headache Wednesday from a stubborn fire that began in an auto repair shop and sent shifting smoke over a wide area.
But by late night, many people were back in their own homes, with only Childers St. still closed.
There were no injuries. Damage is estimated at $500,000.
Police told residents and workers to leave a four-block radius after the fire broke out in the morning at Action Auto Repair on Childers.
Fire trucks, police cruisers, emergency vehicles and a hazardous materials truck descended on the street, spilling onto Brydges St. as firefighters worked.
The fire began after mechanics spilled fuel on a hot engine, said the fire department’s Rick Jefferson.
Fire crews knocked down the building with heavy machinery, as smoke billowed and blew to the east. Changes in wind direction forced a broader evacuation of the surrounding area.
All businesses and residents on Childers,, Ashland Ave., and Langmuir Ave. between Wilton Ave and Brydges St., were asked to leave in the fallout of the smoke and unknown toxins it carried.
The Environment Ministry was called in to test the air.
Public transit buses were provided for displaced residents, and the city opened the Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre to them.
Children at nearby Prince Charles public school were kept put until parents could pick them up.
The fire started shortly after 11 a.m. when mechanics working on a vehicle’s fuel pump spilled fuel onto the hot motor, Jefferson said.
Joe Bowman, who works across the street, saw flames and heard “two or three explosions” as he walked outside.
Reporter Carl Hnatyshyn, Special to the Free Press
via London Free Press
