Veronica Onyskiw woke up to the sound of her dog growling and a loud noise like a revving engine coming from outside her Beech Street home (in Ontario, Canada).

Worried someone was breaking in, Onyskiw tried to call police, but found the phone lines and power were out.

She then went outside to see a “ball of fire” as her smart meter on the side of her brick home exploded only feet away from the gas line.

Around 1:15 a.m., May 31, the smart meter at Onyskiw and her husband Jim Pulcine’s Collingwood home exploded for unknown reasons and was quickly extinguished by four Collingwood firefighters.  There were no injuries.

Collingwood Fire Chief Trent Elyea confirmed to the Enterprise-Bulletin that there was a smart meter fire at the Beech Street home and that the cause of the meter’s explosion is unknown.

Onyskiw said she is concerned for the safety of residents, particularly those with wooden homes.

“There are people all over this town with wood structures and they have these so-called ‘smart meters’ attached to their houses,” she said. “I really think this is a very serious threat to the safety of the people who live in Collingwood and I think it’s something people should know about.”

In January, the Toronto Sun reported that several thousand smart meters were ordered to be removed from Ontario properties over concerns they could start fires.

Onyskiw and Pulcine’s home originally had a smart meter installed on Aug. 8, 2008, followed by a newer-style smart meter on Nov. 14, 2013, which was in place until the incident this past Sunday.

Onsykiw is in the process of forwarding an e-mail request to the Collus PowerStream utility company for an official finding on what caused the fire.  Collus is jointly owned and operated by the Town of Collingwood and Powerstream.

“If the town doesn’t get to the bottom of it and have a team of experts analyze that box and figure out what really caused that problem — if it was because it was installed in an old frame then everybody should be warned who has old frames.  You can’t leave this thing and bury it,” Onyskiw said.

Source Material for this Article

“Collingwood resident’s hydro smart meter exploded May 31,” at http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/2015/06/03/collingwood-residents-hydro-smart-meter-exploded-may-31

Also see:  “Crisis averted as Ont. smart meter explodes next to gas line,” at http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/03/crisis-averted-as-ont-smart-meter-explodes-next-to-gas-line

Updated Article

For more information, please refer to:  “Update:  Homeowner Account of Smart Meter Explosion in Ontario,” at https://smartgridawareness.org/2015/06/05/update-homeowner-account-of-smart-meter-explosion-in-Ontario/