Hazmat team called to third mercury spill at Stanley Park this month

Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services' hazardous materials team has been called to three incidents where mercury was spilled in Stanley Park in a matter of weeks, with the most recent incident taking place at the Stanley Park Brewing Restaurant on Tuesday.

The hazmat team was called to the restaurant around 3 p.m.

"It seems consistently that the source at all of instances is either a broken thermometer or broken thermostat," said Vancouver Fire spokesperson Jonathan Gormick.

"Mercury is very, very toxic and the vapours are very, very toxic, so we have to take this extremely seriously," said Gormick, who expected crews to take at least a couple hours to completely clean up the tiny droplets of metal.

He said the quantity of mercury at each of the three calls was very small.

"It's not the quantity, it's the highly toxic nature of mercury," said Gormick. "It can be absorbed through the skin, and it's poisonous."

On Sunday, crews were called to a similar spill at a nearby washroom at Second Beach. 

The third known mercury spill case was Sept. 16, according to a City of Vancouver spokesperson who confirmed the city's 311 service received a report about the Pitch and Putt facility in Stanley Park.

Gormick said fire officials will be working with Vancouver police to investigate the string of incidents, to establish whether they're linked and what motive may exist.

"It's an oddly malicious type of incident," said Gormick.

Stanley Park Drive was closed in the 8900 block during the hazmat response on Tuesday.

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