Alberta oil sands fire forces mass evacuation of facility
By: Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News
October 15, 2007
FORT MCMURRAY (Canadian OH&S News) -- More than a thousand workers from an Alberta-based energy company were sent home following an early morning oil sands fire at a facility 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray earlier this month.
The fire began in a drum of Suncor Energy Inc’s Millenium Coker Unit (a key processing unit in an oil sands upgrader) at around 6 am on October 2, states a press release issued by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB). It took approximately 45 minutes to extinguish the fire, adds Josh Stewart, spokesman for Alberta Environment.
When the fire initially broke out, Suncor immediately evacuated the vicinity of the blaze, notes Suncor spokeswoman Pattie Lewis. But due to damage caused by the fire, gas containing 15 per cent hydrogen sulphide (H2S) was vented from the drum, the EUB reports. Evacuation measures were stepped up once the fire was extinguished because of fumes — including H2S released from the fire, Lewis notes. “As a precautionary measure… we restricted access to the site to what I would call operating personnel only — the smallest number of people that we need to have on site in order to operate the site reliably,” she says, adding that production at the facility continued.
The EUB release notes one minor injury stemming from the incident. Suncor, however, made no official mention of any injuries. “It was very, very, minor,” Lewis says. “We were very fortunate.”
The evacuation order was lifted at noon, but the lengthy commute to Fort McMurray barred workers from returning, Lewis explains. “Once you send people away, you can’t get them back,” she says. The night shift worked without incident, she adds.
Cause of blaze still under investigation
At this stage in the investigation, it is still not known what caused the blaze, Lewis says.
Prompted by concerns surrounding the H2S levels, Alberta Environment deployed ASERT (Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team) and a MAML (mobile air monitoring laboratory) to the fire scene over worries surrounding the H2S levels, Stewart says. After the fire, hydrogen sulphide levels were at levels that were not of “great human concern,” Stewart says. “None of the air quality was ever at risk downwind.”
Though ASERT has pulled out, Alberta Environment will still be involved with Suncor’s internal investigation. “We’re looking at whether or not there was a hydrogen sulphide leak, or if something before hand [was] connected with the fire at all,” Stewart says. The EUB is also investigating.
H2S is a flammable, colourless gas whose smell, at low levels, is similar to that of rotten eggs, notes a health and safety advisory issued by the Fort McMurray-based Northern Lights Health Region in the wake of the incident. Workers who are exposed to the gas may suffer eye, nose or throat irritation, the release says, and aggravated symptoms may be experienced by those with asthma, bronchitis, or other types of chronic respiratory disease. However, in high concentrations, it will lead to almost instantaneous poisoning and death due to complete arrest of respiration.
http://www.ohscanada.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=75047&issue=10162007
