St. Catharines fire crews remain on the scene of a major fire in the Port Weller.
Just after 6:30 a.m. this morning fire crews were called out to a fire at 20 Keefer Road.
That is home to Ssonix Products a hazardous materials company.
Fire Chief Dave Upper says, "We had reports of explosions and upon arrival explosions were continuing inside the facility for a good 45 minutes."
Fire fighters are still battling the blaze that has also spread to a nearby building.
Upper says one concern is the toxicity of the smoke coming from the fire, "We decided to evacuate the neighbourhood just to the north of the building."
Those residents have been arriving at the St. Catharines Kiwanis Aquatics Centre, at 425 Carlton St.
At this point the hope is that those residents will be able to return home later this evening.
Upper adds that there was one worker in the building at the time of the fire, "unfortunately we have had one injury, a staff member received burns and was transported to St. Catharines hospital through EMS."
The Fire Chief goes on to say that there are concerns about contaminated water going into the nearby lake, "We have a hazardous materials company on scene right now, they are launching a boat and they brought in marine booms so we are working to stem the water flowing into the lake and whatever is in the lake right now we are trying to capture."
At this point the cause of the fire is unknown and the Fire Marshall has been called in to investigate.