October 3, 1975, marks the 50th anniversary of the fire at Burrard Terminals which killed five men, severely burned twelve others, caused $8 million in damages, and destroyed the workhouse, track shed and a large part of the shipping gallery in the former Moodyville area.
Two explosions:
It was around 10:00 am and 24-year-old Patrick Carr was inside the workhouse at Burrard Terminals, taking a sample of grain for his job with the Department of Agriculture. The first explosion caused by a conveyor belt that caught fire, shook the wooden structure enough to loosen all the static dust in the building. The dust ignited and created the second larger explosion. Grain dust, it turns out, is about 35 times more explosive than TNT.
Within minutes the entire building was ablaze, with flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air.
Carr didn’t wait around. “I ran fast, right past a dust collection system and it exploded right in front of me as I was trying to get out a door,” he says. “The doors were normally latched and locked, but they were blown open by the second explosion. I was on fire. My whole left underarm was on fire.”
Carr raced down to the pier where the Anton Chekov was being loaded with cargo for Japan. His first thought was to dive off the pier and put his burning clothes out in the water. Instead, a longshoreman grabbed him and pulled the rugby jersey he was wearing over his head. “The burns were so severe on both my hands that the skin was hanging off my fingernails from the wrists down like rubber gloves,” he said. His long hair was completely singed off his head.
Body never found:
Ed Hooper was standing at the top of the elevator when the fire broke out. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. It’s believed that he was killed in the second explosion, because nothing of him was ever found.
Mel Hoey was standing on the grate when the explosion took place. All his clothes, including his heavy work boots were burned off his body.
Other men came staggering out of the elevator covered in dirt and burns.
Dozens of people in the houses along the street above the grain elevator were evacuated by fire officials as large chunks of charred wood rained down over lawns three hundred metres away from the burning building. The heat was so intense that wooden power poles on the other side of the railway yard, caught on fire.
Carr was rushed first to Lions Gate Hospital and then to the Fairview Pavilion at Vancouver General Hospital, where he was given a 50 percent chance of survival. He was one of the lucky ones. Carr was released on Remembrance Day after 39 days in hospital.
Carr was one of 16 men who suffered severe burns. Four died in hospital. They were Mel Hoey, 58; John Scully, 56; James Evoy, 42; and 28-year-old Dave Brown, who managed to survive for 58 days, before succumbing to his injuries.
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I remember this happening very well! It was catastrophic and I couldn’t imagine being any where’s near there when it explored. My heart still goes out to all those who went through such a horrifying experience. At the time a very close friend of mine was working across on the Vancouver side very close to the waterfront. He said he heard the first explosion and turned and looked out his office window and saw the huge smoke plum, then after that the second explosion, and the flames were immense! I didn’t realize that it’s been 50 years since!