Falling glass closes several streets
High winds blamed, no injuries reported in downtown incident Sunday morning
Calgary police and fire crews were dispatched to the downtown area Sunday morning as a pane of glass crashed to the ground, resulting in road closures and transit disruptions, but causing no injuries.
City officials are warning several roads will be closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic during Monday morning’s commute “until the area is rendered safe.”
Fire department battalion chief Stu Laird said crews were called out around 9:45 a.m. to find glass at the street level.
“There was a pane of glass that, for whatever reason, we can’t determine at this point, had come loose on the 23rd floor,” Laird said.
The city later said high winds caused the glass to fall.
Laird said nothing could be determined in terms of a cause from inside the building and high winds were preventing crews from accessing the outside.
He said crews were called to a similar incident in the area last week.
“We did have an incident at the same location,” he said.
Laird said the fire department was co-ordinating with the Calgary roads department and Calgary Police Service in setting up a safety zone.
Several roads are expected to remain closed indefinitely, including:
1 Street S.W. between 5 Avenue and 8 Avenue; 6 Avenue S.W. between Centre Street and 2 Street West; 7 Avenue S.W. closed to pedestrians between Centre Street and 2 Street West
Calgary Transit Sunday posted messages on its Twitter account indicating the LRT line was closed for several hours between City Hall and 7 Street S.W. and shuttle buses had to be deployed.
As well, 14 bus routes had to be detoured to avoid the area near 7 Avenue and 1 Street S.W., where the debris fell.
Updated schedules and resulting impacts to bus and CTrain service are available on Calgary Transit’s website.
Calgary police Sgt. Paul Cuthill said nine units had to be deployed to set up a perimeter and prevent pedestrians from walking in the area.
Cuthill said since no one was hurt the incident isn’t being treated as a police investigation.
“It’s not a police matter,” he said. “We’re just there to make sure the public doesn’t get in there.”
It’s believed the glass came off the recently completed Brookfield Place tower, the tallest building in Calgary.
A City of Calgary spokesman said he was unaware whether the matter would be investigated for any violations of city bylaws.
High winds have wreaked havoc recently, particularly in the downtown core.
On Oct. 17, a portion of Stephen Avenue Mall was blocked off after glass and debris came crashing down as the fire department responded to dozens of calls related to downed power lines, damaged roofs, uprooted trees and some structural damage.
No one was injured in those incidents.