Residents Remember 1979 Mississauga Train Derailment
Posted November 10, 2009 12:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s been 30 years since one of the largest evacuations in North American history forced more than 200,000 Mississauga residents from their homes.
Just before midnight on November 10, 1979, a CP freight train derailed near Mavis Road and Dundas Street.
There were 106 cars carrying explosive and toxic chemicals – including chlorine gas – and several of them ruptured in the crash.
The fireball could be seen from 100 kilometres away.
An overheated bearing was found to be to blame.
Residents weren’t allowed to return home for six days. But remarkably, there were no deaths due to the derailment, the explosion or the chemical spill.
The evacuation caused by the Mississauga derailment was so well organized and went so smoothly, many Canadian and U.S. cities modeled their emergency plans after it.
The City of Mississauga has a huge gallery of images documenting the blast. Click here to see them all.
