Residents of a west Toronto neighbourhood say they fear for their lives following a spectacular industrial accident on the weekend.

On Saturday, a propane tank at GB Scrap Metal exploded, injuring one worker and blowing out the windows of nearby houses.

There have been two major fires at the Rogers Road and Weston Road site in the past two years and residents say it is only a matter of time before someone is killed.

Neighbour Derrick Bloch said his house shook after the propane tank exploded on the weekend.

"It felt as though a dump truck had driven into my house."

Bloch's house overlooks GB Scrap Metal. He said the owner came over to talk after it happened.

"He was saying he has tremendously bad luck. My reaction? I think he's having very good luck because nobody's dead yet."

Vince Nicholson said Saturday's explosion really shook his family.

"We honestly though a car had rammed into our house. We realized the pictures on our wall had shaken."

Nicholson, 40, was born in the house he lives in, which overlooks the scrapyard.
 
But GB Scrap Metal isn't a newcomer, either. It's been in the same location since the 1940s.
 
Nicholson, however, said he doesn't care anymore that the scrapyard is there legally. 

"That doesn't cut it if somebody's killed. If somebody's killed, that means nothing," he said. "At this point, public safety is more important than legal red tape or not stepping on toes." 

No solution

Nicholson and his neighbours want GB Scrap shut down. But that isn't likely.

The company's current owner, Dino Bois, said he isn't going anywhere. Bois said he's trying to be a good neighbour, offering to put up a fence to contain noise and the ugliness of his operation.
 
The residents note, however, that would do nothing to improve safety.
 
Frances Nunziata, one of the local councillors, said the co-mingling of industry and housing is unacceptable, but offers no solution.
 
"It's a problem. How you get rid of them, I don't know. I don't know what the solution is," said Nunziata.

Even if it were possible to evict GB Scrap and turn the land into a park, as the residents want, it wouldn't necessarily solve the problem.

There are 10 other scrapyards within a few kilometres of the site.