By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario — April 18, 2019 — The fire and explosion that occurred at a bodyshop last week, has one Toronto Councillor speaking out against the presence of collision repair facilities operating near residential areas.
In an interview with Collision Repair, Councillor Michael Thompson said, “Automotive industries should not be in residential areas for the very reason as to what transpired last week.”
“As much as we don’t know what actually occurred, we do know that there was an explosion and that there was a fire. We’ve seen a situation in which there was a conflict with respect to these types of places, not just automotive but we’ve had a propane explosion that occurred a couple of years ago in the west end, that was located in a central residential area. So, I’m not supportive of automotive facilities in residential areas for those reasons.”
In another interview with Global News, Councillor Thompson said, “We often have pressures from people in the automotive sector and asking us to allow them to put auto repair facilities close to residential properties and so on, and we are always, always against that because of the potential problem for safety.”
When Collision Repair asked if he thought this would have an impact on businesses in the automotive sector, he said he doesn’t believe so.
“There are areas that are zoned to allow the uses for automobile and other types of uses that could create an imminent danger to the community. Those areas are zoned specifically for that to ensure there is safety and they are the areas where automotive facilities and other types of facilities such as propane, for example, should be located. They should not be located in residential areas.”
The incident which sparked Thompson’s recent comments on the collision industry occurred last Thursday morning. Firefighters arrived at Preferred Auto after a passing security guard witnessed an explosion inside the facility. According to the fire department, a passing security guard witnessed an explosion and reported it to emergency services at about 4 a.m. By 5.20 a.m., the blaze had been extinguished.
While the fire is still under investigation, Thompson hopes that “the police will be able to shed some light to the community on what transpired, and to ensure the safety of these types of facilities.”
