Residents forced indoors by spill

Posted By CATHY DOBSON AND TARA HAGAN, THE OBSERVER

Residents of south Sarnia were ordered indoors for three hours Tuesday after benzene spilled from the same Imperial Oil tank for the second time in 18 months.

A liquid feedstock containing benzene escaped from a tank in the company's polymers aromatics unit on the east side of Vidal Street about 1 p. m.

Benzene is a component of gasoline and known to cause cancer.

The leak was quickly contained and what spilled to the ground was covered by foam to suppress vapours, said Imperial Oil spokesperson Julie Ferguson.

The cause of the leak or how much benzene escaped wasn't immediately known.

Traffic control was initiated around the Vidal Street plant by 1:30 p. m. and city officials ordered a shelter-in-place for residents living between Devine Street to the north and St. Andrews Street to the south, and from the St. Clair River to Mitton Street in the east.

Southeast winds were blowing toward Sarnia at the time, said Sarnia Police Const. Bill Baines.

Students at Devine Street elementary school remained indoors with doors and windows closed well beyond the end of classes at 3:10 p. m.

Parents were permitted to pick up children but most remained at the school until the shelter-in-place was lifted at about 4:15 p. m.

Company air monitoring found no benzene vapours at the plant's perimeter. However, the city called in a private company to do additional testing near the company fence line and other areas.

When those tests confirmed Imperial's findings the shelter-in- place and traffic control were lifted, Baines said.

"We wanted to get third-party testing. It's better safe than sorry."

No injuries were reported and Ferguson said there were no indications of off -site consequences.

However, city resident Chris Reid was at the Christina Street McDonald's restaurant in downtown Sarnia and said he detected an odour.

Restaurant patrons were not panicking, although one man pulled his coat over his face as a precaution, he said.

"It was almost a clean smell, if you didn't know the bad chemicals behind it," Reid said. "If it doesn't cut 10 years off my life, I'll be OK."

When the emergency warning sirens sounded, Aamjiwnaang First Nation residents were instantly on alert, said Ada Lockridge, a local environmental activist.

"Hopefully people know what to do when those sirens go off, but there are some old homes in the area . . . it's going to get in," she said.

Her phone began ringing with people seeking more information once they heard the sirens.

"Not everyone listens to the radio and people wonder what it is," Lockridge said.

Cal Gardner of the city's emergency management primary control group was at police headquarters with other community leaders monitoring the incident.

The city's emergency response worked relatively well, Gardner said. "You can always improve, but it went fairly well."

An investigation is under way at Imperial Oil to determine the cause.

On March 14, 2008, a similar incident occurred at the same tank when its floating roof collapsed.

Benzene leaked and a shelter-in-place order was issued for about four hours in the same neighbourhood, prompting a company apology.