Explosion rocks Mississauga strip mall, injuring three
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

Five people — including a child — were assessed for injuries and dozens have been displaced after a building exploded, rocking the streets of Mississauga Sunday morning.Emergency crews rushed to a strip plaza connected to a residential building in the Dundas St. West and Hurontario St. area just before 7:30 a.m. The building that exploded is located right next to Thomas L. Kennedy Secondary School.Firefighters continued to fight the blaze into Sunday afternoon and clouds of thick smoke hid the full extent of the damage.Mississauga’s fire chief Tim Beckett told media on scene that half the plaza had collapsed and there was structural damage to apartment buildings nearby. Police initially said that the strip plaza contained only commercial businesses that had been affected by the blast, but they soon discovered that an apartment building was attached in the back of the plaza.Beckett said five victims were inside the building, two who immediately exited with minor injuries and three who lived in the attached apartment building and had moved themselves to the roof where they were rescued by fire services. A male rescued from the roof was taken to hospital in serious but non-life threatening condition. He is now listed in stable condition. An adult woman and a child rescued from the roof of the plaza both received minor injuries.“I think the fact that the roof was down at their own level, that’s why they were on the roof portion,” said Beckett.Beckett said Mississauga’s fire marshal is waiting to get to the centre of the fire.“We have a live natural gas line that is burning and we’re working with Enbridge now to get that gas line shut down. The investigation itself won’t start until some time tomorrow so it’s going to be quite some time.”Fire services say that a search and rescue team is at the site of the explosion but, because they still can’t safely access the building, they can’t ...