A sudden dull thud and windows shaking this morning at 7:26 following an explosion in the shredder unit at American Iron and Metal. It is the first significant explosion at the operation in the past couple of months.
One person says they were just waking up as they heard the thud and thought someone had driven into the side of their house.
Late last year – the facility was temporarily shut down by Environment Minister Gary Crossman after a series of explosions rattled nerves and tempers of residents in the city centre and on the Lower West Side. It was allowed to resume operations following a review of procedures – Including increased scrutiny of material coming into the faciltiy – and inspections by department officials.
The explosions are usually the result of old gas tanks or propane tanks finding their way into the shredder unit. We have contacted the provincial Environment Department and Port Saint John for a comment on this morning’s episode.
