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Victoria Times Colonist
Tue 29 Jun 1999 News A1 / Front

Fire's pollution damage assessed

Illustration: Color Photo: Sean White, Times Colonist / ARSON SUSPECTED IN TIRE BLAZE: Volunteer firefighters douse flames from a stubborn tire fire at a North Cowichan recycling plant.

NORTH COWICHAN -- The Environment Ministry and the RCMP are investigating a suspicious fire that melted a mountain of 1,500 tires into a gooey toxic mess at Brothers Transit Ltd. recycling depot.

Firefighters mopped up and left the scene shortly after 8 p.m. Monday after North Cowichan Fire Chief Rob MacDowell declared the fire out. ``Things went very well,'' said MacDowell, who estimated there were 38 firefighters on the scene at the height of the fire.

Al Spidel, a pollution-prevention technician with the Environment Ministry, collected samples from the base of the fire, a settling pond and two other sites.

``There's a lot of potential contaminants,'' said Spidel.

``These samples will be rushed for analysis and the results will be made available in a day or so.''

Although another officer was responsible for testing the air quality, Spidel said it was an obvious concern.

``My own personal feeling is I would stay indoors if you can and to reduce the impacts that might be there. It's like breathing anything that's burning.
There's harmful materials in there.''

The nearest houses are up to a kilometre from the site, and no one was evacuated. The nearest school is Tansor elementary, about one kilometre to the south.

Spidel said the light rain Monday morning probably reduced the area of contamination.

Rob Clark, an assistant to the fire commissioner, said the blaze was definitely suspicious.

``Tires do not spontaneously combust,'' said Clark. ``Someone would have to hold a flame to the tires. . . pour diesel over top of them and light them on fire. It would take a while for the tires to get going.''

Volunteer firefighters from North Cowichan, Shawnigan Lake, Duncan and Tsatlam were called out to the inferno.

``The flames were very, very intense,'' said MacDowell, who was there at 2:45 a.m. and stayed until after 8 p.m. and watched the fire shoot into the night sky as he drove along the highway. ``They were about 90 to 100 feet (27 to 30 metres) high.''

At the scene he instructed his crew to block off a ditch to contain the gooey runoff in a settling pond in a corner of the recycling depot.

``We got hold of Environment Canada right away at 3 a.m. and told them of our situation. We were worried about the fallout going over Duncan.''

About 38 firefighters battled the fire from the ground using hand-held lines connected to tankers. An aerial truck, parked on the road overlooking the tire pit, pumped 700 gallons of water a minute onto the stinking rubbery mess. At the start of the fire, the mountain of tires measured 30 metres by 12 metres and 4.5 metres high.

After daylight, an excavator began pulling apart the mound of tires while firefighters sprayed foam and water to cool them down with water. Every so often, the intense heat caused the fire to flare again.

``It's a very hard fire to put out because the fire has burned deep within itself,'' said volunteer firefighter Ron Beck. ``The water just vaporizes. It has no effect on it at all.''

After fighting the blaze for seven hours, Beck said he was bushed.

``Most of the guys, at this point, are all rather exhausted and dirty.''

Conservation officer Diane Tetarenko, an investigator for the Environment Ministry, said she would assess the situation to see if any enforcement action should be taken.

``My role is to collect all the information I can,'' said Tetarenko. ``Charges are one course of action we can look at.''

Under the Waste Management Act individuals and companies are required to take responsibility for their waste, said Tetarenko.

``They have to make sure there are certain precautions in place to prevent discharges into the environment. They must have proper care and control of the site.''

Tetarenko said her investigation would determine whether there was proper care and control of the tires at the recycling depot.


--
Peter Ronald
Tel: 250.361-3621
Fax: 250.361-3682
Email: impulse@islandnet.com
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