Burnaby can recover $30K in costs related to refinery incident

The fire chief in Burnaby, B.C., says the city can recover nearly $30,000 in costs related to crews being placed on standby at the Parkland refinery for more than six hours following an emissions incident in January.

In a report presented to councillors Monday night, Chief Chris Bowcock detailed the $28,963.54 the city incurred in costs for having 34 firefighters and 11 vehicles on standby at the refinery following an equipment failure that resulted in dark smoke and an acrid odour being released across parts of Metro Vancouver on Jan. 21.

At the time, the regional district issued an air quality bulletin about the emissions, but later found it did not breach pollution standards.

The event, caused in part by Parkland's attempt to restart the refinery after a shutdown due to extreme cold in Metro Vancouver, had many residents calling for more transparency from the company over what exactly happened and what was emitted.

WATCH | Refinery's reassurances over emissions incident not placating residents:

Burnaby residents demand transparency over refinery fumes

10 months ago

Duration 2:16

People living around the Parkland refinery in Burnaby, B.C., say they want more information about what they're being exposed to after a strong smell covered the region on Jan. 21. The company says there is no danger, but that isn't reassuring everyone.

Burnaby has a bylaw that instructs the owner or operator of certain industrial equipment, including fuel, to reimburse the city for personnel, equipment and other related costs when a standby stretches beyond one hour.

Bowcock said the fire department assigned a second alarm response to the site, along with a hazardous material task force, to take up "positions as per pre-plan isolating the facility access and monitoring conditions between the facility and the community," which began around 8 a.m. and lasted for six hours and 15 minutes.

The lengthy standby meant the city had to call in off-duty firefighters to be available to respond to other emergencies in the city.

"The department's level of service was not reduced with regards to fire, medical emergencies and all requests for service were attended during the second alarm resource commitment to the Parkland refinery incident," said the report.

CBC News has asked Parkland for comment.