Smoke from Burnaby Refinery
Last updated on January 29, 2024Disclaimer:
- Information provided is based on reports received by Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR).
- Information provided is considered to be current at the time of posting, but is subject to change.
Incident description
| Incident Date | January 21, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Name | DGIR: 240268 |
| Source | Processing Unit |
| Nearest Community | Burnaby, B.C. |
| Spilled Content | Smoke |
| Who is involved | Metro Vancouver Regional District, City of Vancouver, Burnaby Fire Department, Parkland Fuel Corporation, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV), Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) |
Response phase details
The responsible person or spiller is legally required to clean-up or manage the clean-up of a spill. In incidents where the responsible person is unknown, unable or unwilling to manage the cleanup, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) may assume the role.
The updates below reflect the ministry’s oversight of the spillers’ actions. Details describe the spill response phase only and not the complete lifecycle of the spill. Updates are in reverse chronological order with the most recent at the top.
Industry-specific language may be explained in the Glossary of Terms (PDF, 106KB).
Most recent updates
January 26, 2024
Parkland Refinery is continuing with their maintenance and testing operations, while air monitoring and testing from the environmental consultant is ongoing.
Parkland staff have revised procedures to continue with a controlled burn of residual hydrocarbon in the processing unit at a lower air rate. Air quality mitigations remain in place from the refinery.
At this time, tentative plans are to re-initiate air into the processing unit by mid-morning tomorrow, January 27th.
Community monitoring is continuing, following the distributed community plan, and Lanfranco remains on site to monitor stack emissions. There have been no further odour complaints received. MetroVan continues to be responsible for air quality monitoring.
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No further updates will be provided.
January 25, 2024
Fraser Health held a meeting yesterday with Parkland staff, BCCDC, and Vancouver Coastal Health. The meeting reviewed questions related to last Sunday's incident, the plan for the next few days, and general questions about air monitoring.
The draft dispersion model and air monitoring plan are being shared with partner agencies for review. Contractors were on site yesterday to perform baseline monitoring and have started community monitoring activities this morning. Nitrogen removal began in the damaged processing unit this morning.
There have been no odours reported and no exceedances of the hourly average permit limit thus far; any exceedances will be reported accordingly.
Parkland undertakes continuous air emissions monitoring, however their emissions stacks became compromised over the weekend, and have retained Lanfranco (a stack monitoring consulting firm), to monitor stack emissions. A MetroVan air audit representative is onsite.
A new air quality bulletin has been issued for Metro Vancouver today for proactive information only. The bulletin does not contain an air quality alert or warning information.
Further updates will be provided as information is available.
January 24, 2024
Parkland Refinery is attempting to remove any combustible vapours from the processing unit Thursday, January 25th. No odours from this procedure are expected, however, as with any shutdown or maintenance activity, there is always a potential for odours.
Parkland's communication plan will be implemented to advise the community and partner agencies of these events. The hired consultant has completed an air monitoring plan and it is being reviewed.
The air dispersion model is still under development. Baseline air quality measurements will be captured early this afternoon and follow-up air monitoring is ongoing.
The public may notice increased odour, flaring, and visible smoke over the next few days.
Further information will be provided when it becomes available.
January 23, 2024
Parkland has hired consultants to develop an air monitoring plan and undertake air dispersion modelling. These are important requirements to have in place prior to re-starting the equipment, which is expected to occur sometime in February following repairs.
MetroVan is continuing to monitor air quality levels over the course of the incident. There have been no air quality advisories issued to date.
Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
January 23, 2024
Parkland Refinery staff are working with technologists and engineers to determine how the processing unit will be repaired that caused the smoke on Sunday, January 21st. The timeline for repairs is still unknown. Following repairs, there will be some emissions as the processing unit starts again, however smoke is expected to be much less than the original incident on January 21st.
MetroVan will be outlining their air quality expectations, dispersion modelling, and air monitoring plans, which will be in place prior to the processing unit restarting. Parkland refinery remains in a controlled shut down until the repairs are made and plans required by MetroVan are in place.
Information advisories will be sent out to the public and the Ministry of Environment prior to the processing unit restarting.
Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
January 22, 2024
Parkland Refinery staff have issued a controlled shut down on the processing unit that was smoking on January 21st to perform additional maintenance. During the controlled shut down, staff will attempt to determine what caused the processing unit failure.
Parkland Refinery is working to address equipment issues before going back to regular activity.
A plan to re-start the processing unit is currently in development. A timeline is unknown for when a re-start of the processing unit will occur.
Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
January 21, 2024
Parkland Refinery staff have determined that the smoke resulted from a processing unit malfunctioning after being shut down due to extreme cold temperatures last week. Metro Vancouver Regional District (MetroVan) has ambient air quality monitoring stations in the area.
The air quality in the area this morning has remained below MetroVan's advisory levels.
As of Sunday afternoon, smoke is no longer being released from the processing unit and Parkland's environmental consultant is preparing an air monitoring plan.
Parkland staff continue to monitor their equipment and an Incident Command Post (ICP) remains active to manage the incident.
Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
January 21, 2024
The Burnaby Fire Department is attending an incident at Parkland Refinery which is causing smoke in the area. The Fire Department has confirmed that the fire is under control. Details related to the source of the fire are unknown at this time.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) staff are working with Parkland Refinery staff to monitor air quality impacts resulting from the smoke, while the Burnaby Fire Department continues to work with Parkland staff to determine the cause of the incident.
Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.