Firefighters respond to flaring at Canaport
Published Monday October 12th, 2009
SAINT JOHN - Fire as high at 100 feet shot out of the flame stack at Canaport LNG and could be seen from the Courtenay Bay Causeway, acting district fire chief Barry Oickle said.
Employees of Canaport LNG were evacuated for more than an hour for safety reasons, Oickle said.
Oickle said the Saint John Fire Department was called to Red Head Road on Saturday at 12:41 p.m. when a large flame was seen emanating from the liquid natural gas terminal.
The flame was caused by a build-up of pressure in the drum used to collect the product before it is burned, Oickle said.
"This resulted in liquid natural gas erupting out and over the flare stack tip and liquid product cascading down the flare stack while it was igniting, causing a large flame and vapour cloud," Oickle said.
The acting district chief said personnel monitored the flare stacks with close-circuit television monitors and the ground was monitored for low explosion levels using on-site monitors.
He said about 20 firefighters and eight trucks responded to the incident and were on scene for about an hour.
At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oickle said everything had returned to safe levels and the company was continuing to monitor levels. No one at Canaport LNG could be reached for comment.
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They get a bill each year--just like every business/resident of the City--we call it the 'property tax bill' (and they do pay it--maybe not as much as some think they should but they do pay and that entitles them to the same level of service that any other resident is entitled to). In addition the LNG plant likely has it's own fire equipment and has staff trained to mitigate emergencies--paid for as a cost of doing business.
"and on top of the SJFD cost the LNG is costing...for police overtime to allow...non union workers to the site."
A business should be allowed to hire the best people for the job--union or not--the protestors are the ones 'causing' the OT to be incurred--without them there'd be no need for OT
Is it the Irvings specifically (or just industry in general) that so many find so distasteful? The Irvings owe Saint John nothing yet they keep giving back--
I said "they OWE they City nothing" they get, they give--that's the way it's supposed to work. Most cities/provinces recognize the benefits of having industry in the area--industry employs your residents who then pay taxes and keep the economy flowing--fact is Saint John has nothing to offer that can't be found elsewhere and the constant anti Irving drone is really unbecoming for a City that prides itself on it's industrial history.
DH that is interesting information. At any rate I was not trying to diminish the value of having a well funded/equipped fire department available--just pointing out that LNG didn't get anything they didn't pay for--the SJFD don't send me a bill when I set my kitchen on fire because the service is included in my taxes--reality is that my fire would be smaller and so is my tax bill.