Thanks Bruce,
I keep a file on accidents -- this one's a keeper.
The Montreal Gazette had only an abreviated story :

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=312159c9-52f9-4cc9-af8f-108e26239685 

Ruptured pipe spills river of crude20-metre oil geyser spurts into air

CanWest News Service, July 25, 2007

Dozens of homes were evacuated yesterday after a road crew ruptured an oil pipeline, sending up a geyser of crude that painted houses black and flooded a major highway.Witnesses reported seeing thousands of litres of oil spray some 20 metres into the air, then flow as a "river" down into Burrard Inlet, which separates Vancouver and its suburbs from North Vancouver.The leak was plugged after about 25 minutes.


Oil flows down a highway in Burnaby, B.C., and pools around homes after a road crew's excavator ruptured a buried pipeline yesterday.IAN LINDSAY, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

Emergency officials evacuated about 30 homes, and police blocked off the highway.Already there are predictions of an environmental disaster.One woman, Najuli Jessa, saw the oil spraying up in her backyard and started jumping up and down. "I thought we were going to be rich, like it was the Beverly Hillbillies," Jessa said.Evacuated residents have been told they could be gone for a couple of days.Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan downplayed the impact the spill may have on the environment, saying most of the oil went into a pumping station - not into the inlet.Cleanup crews used booms in an effort to contain the oil that did spill into the ocean inlet, he added. "It will take several days to clean up," he said."We are looking at having the road open tomorrow, and hope to have people back in their homes in a day or two," he said. "We're glad that nobody was hurt."Corrigan said officials are concerned that people with compromised immune systems or asthma will be affected by the smell, but crude oil is not toxic so they're not worried about poisoning.The pipeline is part of a network that carries oil from the south side of Burnaby Mountain to a ship-loading terminal on the inlet.

Vancouver Province