An ammonia leak at Fernie’s hockey arena believed to be responsible for the deaths of three people is a reminder of Williams Lake’s own experience with a chlorine gas release into the pool in 2012, city councillor Sue Zacharias said during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“It made me aware of the fact that everybody reacted so quickly when we had our incident a few years ago,” Zacharias said, referring to the incident which sent 70 people to hospital. “Ours was a pretty big event.”
The City of Fernie declared a state of emergency Tuesday as a result of the leak, evacuating homes and businesses in proximity of the arena, and setting up an emergency social services centre.
Williams Lake’s director of community services Geoff Paynton called the incident in Fernie tragic.
“It’s a reminder to everyone that ammonia is used in ice rinks and a lot of places — everything that has refrigeration,” he told the Tribune Wednesday. “Ammonia is definitely dangerous but so commonly used.”
When people think of the staff working at the rink, they see them driving a Zamboni or pushing a broom, but it’s much more than that, Paynton said.
“Ammonia is treated with a lot of respect and highly regulated so our staff is monitoring our systems 24/7.”
Paynton said the City and Cariboo Regional District have invested heavily over the years to ensure the Cariboo Memorial Complex has a state-of-the art refrigeration system.
“We are a risk-assessed arena which means we have been checked to make sure we meet high standards,” he said.
At this point the cause of Fernie’s ammonia leak is under investigation.
In 2012 it was a failed vacuum regulator that caused the chlorine gas to be released into the Sam Ketcham Pool in Williams Lake.
On that Sunday morning when the event occurred there were close to 60 children in the pool warming up for a regional swim meet.
Initially 70 people were sent to the hospital and later released with the exception of one boy who remained in the hospital until the following Friday.
Paynton said the Williams Lake pool no longer uses chlorine gas because of the incident.
“We use a liquid now that is more like bleach,” he explained.
The RCMP continue to investigate the incident along side WorkSafe BC at the arena in Fernie.