THUNDER BAY – The company that owns a quarry where a large blast occurred Tuesday evening, startling local residents and raising questions over its cause, has confirmed it resulted from larger-than-usual controlled explosion.
Nearby resident Derek Parks, who lives near the pit on Copenhagen Road, said there was no missing the event when it occurred around 5 p.m.
“I think it registered on the Richter scale, so it really did shake the house and vibrate and rattle [windows and] objects in the house,” he said.
The blast registered as a 2.1 magnitude quake, according to Natural Resources Canada, and residents around the city reported hearing or feeling the impact, leading some to ask if they’d just experienced an earthquake.
A representative for Pioneer Construction, which owns the quarry, confirmed the blast heard Tuesday was larger than usual but could not offer further details.
Blasting at the site is a yearly occurrence, said City of Thunder Bay tourism manager Paul Pepe. The city is typically notified, since the quarry sits just over 100 yards from the Terry Fox monument.
The explosions sometimes reverberate strongly enough to shake coverings loose from lights at the monument, said Pepe, and the centre usually closes during the blast, as it did Tuesday.
Visitor centre staff reported no evidence Tuesday’s blast had been particularly powerful, he said.
Parks was concerned he hadn’t been warned about the blast, saying staff normally provide notification and set up vibration monitoring equipment near his home.
“It was kind of a surprise to have the blast go off the way it did without the notification,” he said.
A representative for Pioneer Construction said the company alerts Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation and the OPP before blasting, but doesn’t issue public alerts over concerns they could draw spectators.
