A total of 337 sites across the GTA house a propane filling tank – from large plants like the one that blew up Sunday to smaller ones for refilling cylinders for the backyard barbecue – meaning there’s probably one in a neighbourhood near you.

So, in the aftermath of the fatal explosion at Sunrise Propane, a call like Mayor David Miller’s to keep large propane facilities at least 1.6 kilometres from residential areas is easier said than done.

And even if we could do it, such a move might not make us much safer.

With so much consumer demand for propane, locating storage and handling farther afield raises the spectre of more transport by truck and rail, which also carry risks.

In 1997, thousands of people, many of them seniors, were evacuated from their Scarborough homes after a Sunrise tanker jacknifed on Highway 401.

“The 401 is already way over capacity, and you would increase the danger of having a fireball or a catastrophic collision on the highways,” said professor Ken McBey, of York University’s disaster and emergency management program.
“There’s no real easy solution.”