3 October 2007
Mayor Pleased with Handling of Propane Leak Emergency
Moose Jaw Saskatchewan - A propane leak from a tank car in
the Moose Jaw yard of the Canadian Pacific Railway Monday may not have been due to overloading, according to rail company officials.
"That was an initial speculation, but it was not confirmed," said Breanne Feigel, spokeswoman for CPR. "There are a
lot of factors we're looking into as the investigation continues."
A buildup of pressure within the car - which was headed east carrying liquid propane at the time - caused it to vent more than
usual, alerting CPR employees to the problem.
An area of four city blocks was evacuated by police and firefighters as a precaution. "From the city's point of view,
everything went pretty well," said Mayor Dale McBain. "It really shows all the planning we have in emergency measures paid
off."
Mock disaster training conducted in December dealt with a similar situation and most of those who participated, such as the fire
department and emergency responders, were involved in the real thing Monday.
The mayor, along with city administrators, declared a state of emergency as a precaution around 2 p.m. "The incident had gone
on longer than a couple of hours," said McBain. "People were evacuated from their homes and businesses."
Experts from Canutec in Regina, trained to handle problems that arise during the transportation of dangerous goods, were called in
and spent the night burning off excess gas from tanker.
Once the car was determined to be safe again, some propane was transferred to another car and the train left Moose Jaw.
CPR, which is not releasing the name of the customer that owns the propane, is currently investigating what led to the buildup of
pressure in the tanker car.
Feigel said there was "minimal impact" to CPR's delivery schedule as a result of the incident.
Traffic barriers were removed around 11:30 p.m. Monday and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
As part of Monday night's state of emergency, 25 residents from the evacuated area were relocated for the night. Places for the
residents to stay for the night were found by the Red Cross, according to local Red Cross official Robbie Gamble.
McBain officially lifted state of emergency orders at 8:47 a.m. Tuesday.
He said that, because of the co-operation between emergency personnel, he was never worried the leak would turn into a
bigger problem. "It was under control almost right from the beginning," he said. "It's not something that was going to
get away on us."
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