Ammonia leak in Fernie.............3 people dead.

ferniesnow · Oct 17, 2017

CTV is reporting that an ammonia leak at the arena in Fernie has taken 3 lives so far. No further details were available.

snowcannon · Oct 17, 2017

ferniesnow said:
CTV is reporting that an ammonia leak at the arena in Fernie has taken 3 lives so far. No further details were available.

Vapour?

the_real_wild1 · Oct 17, 2017

That sucks big time.

towerrigger · Oct 17, 2017

Sounds like refrigerant leak at the hockey rink. Sad news.

iceman5689 · Oct 17, 2017

Terrible news, I've always had a hard time with the fact that none of the worker running the area are power engineers or boiler operators for that matters. I worked at the rink as my first job outside of high school, tons of potential I see now that I had no clue working around a refrigeration system

OVERKILL 19 · Oct 17, 2017

iceman5689 said:
Terrible news, I've always had a hard time with the fact that none of the worker running the area are power engineers or boiler operators for that matters. I worked at the rink as my first job outside of high school, tons of potential I see now that I had no clue working around a refrigeration system

Know how many public swimming pools used to be or still are treated by chorine bottles or tonners.... and are swapped by life guards half the time!
Insane!

007sevens · Oct 17, 2017

not good. Im the president at our arena. We have a alarm for leaks. Makes one hell of a noise.

arff · Oct 17, 2017

Three people are dead after a possible ammonia leak an arena in Fernie, B.C.
The City of Fernie says emergency crews still can’t safely enter the Fernie Memorial Arena where three fatalities have been confirmed.
WorkSafeBC says based on preliminary information, three workers were exposed to a gas leak that was possibly ammonia shortly before noon Tuesday.
The city’s fire department had contacted WorkSafeBC about the incident and RCMP are now leading the investigation of the site.
The city says in a news release it is working with CIMCO Refrigeration and is trying to get obtain additional specialized resources to deal with the hazardous situation.
Homes and businesses in the area, including a retirement home, have been evacuated. The city says the victims’ next of kin have been notified and their identities are not being released at this time.

Rotax_Kid · Oct 18, 2017

Sad story. I bet the vapour in a confined space built up and the poor guys had no idea what happened to them. You can smell it, but if a really concentrated shot, like >500ppm, hits you, NH3 doesn't give you a lot of time as it asphyxiates you and collapses your lungs.

For the small tonnage plants like Arena's have, there is a special "Arena Operator's Ticket" here in Sask. Not quite at the level of a Power Eng ticket, but if we didn't have those, very few rinks would be open. I've had to deal with a few NH3 leaks before, not a fun job.

LUCKY 7 · Oct 18, 2017

my thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved. Very sad day yesterday

iceman5689 · Oct 18, 2017

007sevens said:
not good. Im the president at our arena. We have a alarm for leaks. Makes one hell of a noise.

Do you have Scba or SAB on site in case of a release for safe evacuation? Likely not. Something to think about the safety of your workers and public

Events such as this are preventable

Bnorth · Oct 18, 2017

Very sad incident, condolences to the families and individuals affected.

52weekbreak · Oct 18, 2017

I saw this on the morning news on and thought about how in small communities everyone knows everyone particularly those involved in operation of a community rink. Quite devastating locally and I empathize with that.

I haven't seen any updates so was wondering if there is a preliminary cause of the leak?

Do you live in Fernie Doug?

ferniesnow · Oct 18, 2017

52weekbreak said:
I saw this on the morning news on and thought about how in small communities everyone knows everyone particularly those involved in operation of a community rink. Quite devastating locally and I empathize with that.

I haven't seen any updates so was wondering if there is a preliminary cause of the leak?

Do you live in Fernie Doug?

I do not live in Fernie. I live in Elkford which is about 70 km north. Like the Mayor said, "we are close knit and will get through this." Apparently, one of the city workers worked at the arena for 30 years. In a small city, everyone will know who that is even without the release of names. Such a tragedy.

RIP to the victims and prayers and condolences to family and friends. Fernie will be strong.

007sevens · Oct 18, 2017

iceman5689 said:
Do you have Scba or SAB on site in case of a release for safe evacuation? Likely not. Something to think about the safety of your workers and public

Events such as this are preventable

Its in a contained room, and the amount is small. When the alarm sounds and it is such a small amount that evacuation is not a problem. The building is evacuated and nobody goes back in till the people TRAINED to run scuba go in and fix the problem. Just having the equipment does not make the average Joe able to use it properly.

pano-dude · Oct 18, 2017

Sad news for sure. People do not realize the danger of these plants. My buddy used to run the refrigeration plant at COP, the amount of ammonia they had onsite was unreal. I think he said they ran trucks for a week to empty the system.

ferniesnow · Oct 18, 2017

Are firemen protected with their breathing apparatus?

They mentioned that two bodies were still in the building and they couldn't get to them. I need some enlightenment.

cdnredneck_t3 · Oct 18, 2017

There are rules around toxic environment in confined space. You are only permissable to enter an environment of 50% the IDLH (immediate danger to life and health) concentration with an SCBA. And ammonia burns the skin where you sweat. And if the leak was still occurring they may have had to wait for it to depressurize.

Cdnfireman · Oct 18, 2017

Standard firefighter bunker gear is not sufficient for entry into that atmosphere. Level A suits are required. That plus the 2 in 2 out rules and requirements for a decontamination line make recovery a large task. Probably outside the scope of the local fire department.

arff · Oct 18, 2017

Cdnfireman said:
Standard firefighter bunker gear is not sufficient for entry into that atmosphere. Level A suits are required. That plus the 2 in 2 out rules and requirements for a decontamination line make recovery a large task. Probably outside the scope of the local fire department.

Exactly.,,,,

Ammonia leak in Fernie.............3 people dead.

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