

Chris Fox and Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





A portion of Avenue Road was closed off after a vehicle struck a gas line that was located outside of a retirement home in Yorkville on Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, two vehicles were involved in a collision on Avenue Road, near Davenport Road shortly after 4 p.m.

Surveillance video of the incident sent to CP24 showed one vehicle trying to make a left turn off of Avenue Road, when another vehicle swerved to avoid it.

The swerving vehicle then lost control, mounted a sidewalk and hit the Hazelton Place Retirement Residence, striking a gas line in the process.

No injuries were reported as a result of the crash or the ensuing gas leak.

Roads in the area were blocked off for several hours before reopening around 9 p.m.

“It is a pretty serious gas leak but it is being contained right now,” Inspector Jim Gotell told CP24 at the scene. “We haven’t evacuated the area because we aren’t concerned at this point in time that there is any risk but people are sheltering in place and we do have the TTC on scene helping us out and if we do have to evacuate we can move people onto buses and get them out of here. We don’t anticipate we will have to do that.”

Gottell said that crews doused the gas line with water, which is part of the process followed whenever a leak is reported.

He said that Enbridge officials arrived at the scene to cut off the gas to the area but may have to “cut into the concrete in the road” to do that.

Jewelry store owner Louis Louro was in his store across the road when he heard a “horrific” sound.

“We just heard the loudest noise you could ever hear,” Louro told CP24. “We just looked out the window and saw the crash and then the horrific sound of the gas leak. That was just disturbing. We thought that the thing was going to blow up. The driver took off and the smell of gas was just unbearable. “

He and the staff sheltered in the basement out of fear that there could be an explosion.

“We all went down to the basement of our shop and waited for the fire department to come by because we really thought the thing was going to blow,” he said.

One woman whose mother lives in the Hazelton Place Retirement Residence said that officials there told all residents with rooms facing onto Avenue Road to go to the other side of the building while the leak is capped. The woman said that the incident occurred just hours prior to a planned holiday dinner at the building.