| Comments | Hagersville ON, February 12, 1990. A fire was set by arsonists in a pile of 14 million used tires; the fire took 17 days to extinguish; the toxic runoff from the melting tires and the fear of toxins in the oily smoke became a prime focus for media attention. The Environment Canada accident report states that 1700 people were evacuated in a radius of 4 km for 17 days; the fire created 20,000 m³ of solid waste and contaminated an area of 4.5 ha with 12 to 50 m³ of floating liquid residue; 25 people were deprived of drinking water for 3 months. |