The Barry Building Explosion

The Barry Building Explosion. . , On this site in 1975 an accident during routine excavation led to the biggest single tragedy and loss of life in North Bay's history. In the afternoon of January 8, a five man crew from the gas company working next door using a backhoe unearthed a charged natural gas line connected to a recently demolished house. Unbeknownst to the crew, the backhoe inadvertently disconnected the main line from a feeder line, sending gas fumes through weeping tiles and into the Barry Building at 122 McIntyre St W. At the time, the building housed optometrists' and dentists' offices as well as a basement apartment and on that busy Wednesday afternoon a total of 19 people were in the building. Many others were on the streets outside, traveling to and from the busy law office next door, the hardware store across the street, or simply passing by., The first hints of a problem came shortly after 2 o'clock when the pungent odour of rotten eggs was noticed in the Barry Building, causing an employee at one of the doctors' offices to complain of nausea and a headache. Reassured by the gas company crew that there was no danger even though they did not have a gas detector with them, the people in the building went about their activities even as the smell of gas got stronger. At 3:30, a violent explosion tore through the Barry Building as the natural gas ignited, lifting the building's roof five feet into the air. Within a minute, a raging fire had also erupted, complicating the efforts to rescue the victims trapped within the now shattered structure. The fire was so hot that a police car parked out front melted from the heat; it took an hour and a half for the natural gas to be shut off, starving the flames and allowing the fire to be brought under control. , Fortunately, the North Bay Police had been training at their headquarters across the street and Police Chief William Wotherspoon, whose office overlooked the Barry Building and who had witnessed the explosion, recalled seeing 'a sea of blue' running from the station to the scene of the explosion as members of the force reacted immediately and selflessly by charging into the burning building to help, with several officers in particular singled out for their bravery in helping to dig survivors out of the rubble. The police were joined in their heroics by other emergency responders and private citizens who helped rescue the men and women trapped inside while the North Bay Fire Department devoted all their energy to quelling the inferno. The injured were taken across the street to Cochrane Dunlop Hardware for triage, despite the store having had its front plate glass window blown out by the blast., The explosion claimed the lives of eight people directly and another died in the hospital more than two weeks later after suffering seemingly non life threatening injuries in the blast. Another 23 people, many of them passersby on the street outside, were injured, several of them severely. The tragedy led to several investigations and a coroner's inquest to determine what happened, leading to recommendations to change provincial procedures regarding what to do when natural gas is detected and to the Natural Gas Manual. The Barry Building Explosion devastated that section of McIntyre St. W., with reminders of the explosion visible long after the tragedy. It remains North Bay's biggest and most tragic accident., Area residents who died as a direct result of the explosion were: Mary Margaret McDonald, 15, of Temiscaming; Elizabeth Hall, 46, of Hamilton; Mrs. Lajuana Hallauer, 34, of Carthage, Texas; Mrs. Sarah Murdoch, 76, of South River and North Bay residents Mrs. Louise Brousseau, 21; Dr. William Garnet (Gary) Julian, 32; Dr. Jim Cobean, 30; and Mrs. Gertrude Larocque, 47. Elsie Brooks, 51, of South River, who suffered knee and back injuries in the blast, passed away on January 24th as she was being released from St. Joseph's Hospital., ”I’ve never seen anything like this” , , Fire Chief Haley, Thank you to the North Bay Police Department and the North Bay Fire Department for their assistance in preparing this Heritage Site Plaque, [photo captions] , . 85’ aerial pours water. , . Fireman pours water from ladder. , . Nugget letter to the Editor, April 5/75 – Nipissing Coroner P.S. Grose explains Coroner’s Report. , . Service line to Dresser coupling which was separated by only 3/16”. , . Vertical crack in fieldstone basement wall allowed gas to seep into building. , . Snorkel truck view of basement wall structure after debris cleared. , . NB Fire Dept. arrived within 3 minutes of the explosion., Ref – W. LeBelle, V. McClenaghan “The Beat Light”; G. Berrigan “Tales from a Small-Town Cop”; North Bay Nugget; B. Kroetsch