Ontario's fire marshall tweeted this fact sheet from 2002 about lacquer and solvent-based products after a wood flooring chemical explosion killed a man in Toronto last week..
An explosion caused by wood floor finishing chemicals blew the windows out of a north Toronto apartment and left its superintendent dead, according to the National Post.
The superintendent, a man in his mid-30s, was refinishing the floors in the enclosed apartment to prepare the room for a new tenant. The police believe a heater caused a spark that triggered the explosion.
The victim was found with severe burns on his face. He was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The windows and window frames were destroyed or mangled, and debris flew out of the unit onto the vehicles in the parking lot below, according to the National Post.
A resident from a neighboring apartment took a photo of the area after the blast, and it showed a ladder and tools scattered on a wood floor. A chunk of plaster had been blown out of one of the walls. Details on exactly what “floor finishing chemicals” were being used were unavailable, but the Ontario fire marshal tweeted a fact sheet about lacquer and solvent-based products the day after the explosion as a reminder that using volatile materials in the home is "extremely dangerous."
Editor's note: This article was edited after posting to include the fact sheet from the Ontario fire marshal.
