January 8th, 1975 began just like any other at the Barry Building in North Bay. Staff at the dental and optometrist’s offices were busy going about their daily route, as patients filtered in and out for appointments.
There was no way of predicting that at 3:30 that afternoon, a natural gas explosion would rock the building to its very foundation, the impact sending it five feet in the air before it came crashing to the ground. The explosion triggered a fire that spread through the building in a heart beat, leaving people trapped inside. A total of 19 people were in the building, nine would eventually lose their lives.
Rose Ann Field was working in the Barry Building on that fateful day. She was plucked from the rubble, and rushed to hospital in critical condition. To this day she bares a scar near her temple where she was stitched back together. It serves as a constant reminder of the day she nearly lost her life. She is one of the lucky ones.
Field recalls the minutes leading up to the explosion.
“That day they were digging with a backhoe just outside our office. Dr. Cobean had come to me and said, ‘will you let me know when the men come back from lunch?’” That was because we had started smelling something like rotten eggs. It was horrible. As he and I were talking, all of a sudden the lights went out, there was a hissing sound, then a big bang,” remembered Field.
“He went up in the air, and as he came down, I went up. Dr. Cobean was in front of me and he kept saying ‘what’s wrong with my leg?’ His leg was broken. Fire started coming at us and he just slumped over. I began to crawl to where there was some light, when all of a sudden, somebody pulled me out. Today, all these years later, I found out who it was. It was Victor McClenaghan. He came over to me today and said ‘You look familiar. I’m the one who pulled you out of the explosion.’ I never knew that until today.”
They were reunited at a special Heritage Site Plaque unveiling by the North Bay Municipal Heritage Committee. Dozens of people, including some survivors, family members and friends attended the ceremony. Police, fire and EMS (emergency medical services) also attended, representing the first responders who rushed to the scene that day.
At the time of the explosion, McClenaghan, was the city’s only identification officer. He remembers how the events unfolded, like it happened yesterday.
“Behind the police station, which was directly behind here, there was an annex, which was part of our police station. We heard the explosion and ran to the window thinking it was the service station down the road. We all came running out, Ron Bailey was running ahead up on top of the pile and Deputy Chief Rice was on his way up,” recalled McClenaghan.
“I came across to a corner that was a furniture store. As I got to the corner and looked down beside me, I could see the rocks moving, and I could see this face coming out. It was a woman. I went over and pulled the rocks away and lifted her out and started carrying her away. Just as I moved over a few feet, there was a gas line opening and the flame went shooting up and knocked us both down. It burned my ear. We were both taken to the hospital. From that point on. this became my investigation, trying to find out not only the identification of the people who died, but how the explosion happened.”
The investigation revealed that a five man crew working for a gas company had unearthed a natural gas line with their backhoe.
“There was a building next door that was abandoned and going to be torn down. A gas company went in to dig up the backyard. In the north at that time, the pipes were joined with a rubber holder instead of a lock. They didn’t know that when they put the backhoe down and pulled, they pulled that open and the gas escaped. They thought it was empty,” said McClenaghan.
By disconnecting the main line from a feeder line, gas fumes spread along the driveway, and began building up, spreading into the Barry Building before igniting.
The heat is said to have been so intense, it melted a police car.
Denise Point lost her 21-year-old sister, Louise Brousseau that day.
“My sister Louise was working for Dr. Barry at the time, on the lower floor. She was one of the first to mention to the gentlemen working behind the building that they were smelling gas and they should be doing something about it. They said not to worry about it, it was fine. About 15 minutes later the whole building blew up,” said Point.
“They never found her body. The whole building just caved right in. My father, Gerard Ayotte was one of the firemen that received the call on his way home, so he back tracked. They let him keep up the search but they never did find anything. We identified her by her dental x-ray’s. I worked for that particular dentist. It was very, very traumatic.”
Beth Kroetsch, is the daughter of Dr. Kenneth Barry who owned the building. She along with some family members attended the unveiling.
“My dad was scheduled to work all day. Dr. Jim Cobean, dad’s partner was scheduled to examine the eye of residents at either Nipissing Manor or Cassellholme. Jim offered to take my dad’s place,” said Kroetsch.
“Of the nine that perished, two were from the dental practice, everyone else was either my father’s employees or patients. Mary Margaret McDonald was just 15. She was waiting to have her eyes examined. Elsie Brooks was in the waiting room but somehow she got pulled from the rubble. She was actually interviewed by the paper. Her date of discharge was the day she died, which was about two weeks later.”
Standing outside in the light rain, reading the plaque, brought back a flood of memories.
“This is very emotional for our family. It was a devastating experience to go through because my father lost absolutely everything. He lost his staff, he lost his building, he lost his practice, he almost lost his purpose in life. It’s nice to see the recognition now for those that contributed to assisting and saving the lives of those that were lost. My father would want to know that the people were honoured, those that died. He felt incredible survivors guilt as a result of this, and at least it would give him some peace to know that the city acknowledged the loss and respected and remembered those that died.”
McClenaghan says there was also plenty of miracles that day. A city bus had just left the building after picking up passengers, when the explosion happened. Any delay in schedule, and the death count could have been much higher.
North Bay Municipal Heritage Committee Chair Peter Handley, says it is an important story that needs to be told. It lead to changes in provincial procedures in detecting natural gas.
“It’s the single event that cost the most lives in the history of the city of North Bay. We’ve never had anything that approaches that as far as a loss of life is concerned. It was a lively building. The police station was right across the road. It’s not a happy story, but it’s one of our stories.”
The large plaque, which tells the story of this part of North Bay history, is located in front of the former Barry Building property on McIntyre Street, across from the municipal parking lot.
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