The analysis … claims between 50 and 90 per cent of spilled oil could spread to shorelines within 24 hours… The ebb and flow projected by the 72-hour time-lapse, driven mainly by tidal currents and winds, looks like a swarm of black flies spreading across Vancouver’s English Bay and harbour.”īeyond a tank farm fire and an oil spill on the shores of Vancouver, there is also the nightmare scenario of the bitumen being “safely” delivered. Yesterday, the Canadian Press reported, “Computer-animated models how rapidly Vancouver’s inlets and beaches could become coated in crude under a worst-case oil tanker spill scenario. The City of Vancouver, the City of Burnaby and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation have also commissioned a computer-animated spill analysis in relation to the Kinder Morgan project. …He said millions of barrels of crude oil could erupt in flames, and winds would carry burning oil beyond the boundaries of the tank farm.” …The assessment … says by adding 13 tanks to the existing oil storage facility on Burnaby Mountain, the spacing will be so tight that fire could easily jump from one tank to another, creating a ‘boilover’ event that would be unstoppable. That dire warning was issued Wednesday (May 13) in a report by Chris Bowcock, deputy chief of the Burnaby Fire Department, who did a risk assessment of the tank farm, which would double in size, to 26 storage tanks, under the Trans Mountain proposal. The Globe and Mail reports, “If fire erupted in the expanded tank farm proposed as part of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, it could create a nightmare scenario, with flames engulfing Burnaby Mountain and causing a massive urban evacuation. There are serious dangers associated with this. The proposed expansion of this pipeline would mean an increase to 890,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen travelling from the tar sands in Alberta to the community of Burnaby and export supertankers on the Pacific Coast. The Council of Canadians is opposed to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. The two new fire halls will be nearly identical for cost efficiency, according to the city.Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow speaks from the steps of the BC Legislature in Victoria against Trans Mountain and other tar sands pipelines. The current price tag is about $25 million. In 2008, the city had earmarked $5.1 million for the replacement project. “The key findings and recommendation made in the 2002 Needs Assessment Study holds true today, plus 18 years – Station 4 is barely adequate,” stated the report.Ĭity officials earmarked funds for the replacement project in every one of the city’s five-year financial plans since 2008, but there was no apparent progress on it until this past May, when council approved a $50-million contract that will see the Station 4 replacement bundled with the construction of a new fire hall at SFU. Long time comingĬity officials have long known the Duthie fire hall needed to be replaced.Ī 2002 consultant’s report described the station as “marginally adequate for current operations.”Īnd a 2019 report reiterated that finding. The city has yet to determine what it will do with the Duthie Avenue site after the new station is built, he said. Ground will break on the project in the next “month or two,” and the new station is expected to be operational by the end of next year, according to Bryan. He said the city already owns the property the large size of the lot (14.5 acres) will allow for a buffer between the fire hall and its residential neighbours and the location will allow fire crews to meet the parameters for expected response times in their service area.īuilding the new Station 4 in a different location also means the city won’t have to establish a temporary fire hall while the new one is being built. The new location has multiple advantages besides being close to the terminal in case of an emergency, according to Bryan. since 1956, will be rebuilt on Greystone Drive east of Pinehurst Drive, with only a bit of green belt between it and Trans Mountain’s Burnaby Mountain Terminal, according to City of Burnaby communications manager Chris Bryan. The City of Burnaby has revealed it will build a new fire hall on a piece of city-owned land in the very shadow of the Trans Mountain tank farm.įire Station 4, which has stood at 2326 Duthie Ave.
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