WATCH ABOVE: An investigation is underway in northern Alberta after a fire at Syncrude’s Mildred Lake oilsands site.
EDMONTON — Access to Syncrude Canada’s Mildred Lake oilsands site has been restricted following a fire at the northern Alberta facility Saturday morning.
A spokesperson with Syncrude Canada said there was a “process incident” sometime before 8 a.m. Saturday, which led to the fire. It was quickly extinguished by the company’s fire department, Will Gibson said over the phone from Fort McMurray Saturday morning.
“It was all in an area of our Mildred Lake upgrading complex, which is a large area, but it was contained to one particular area,’ said Gibson. “Work is still going on at some parts of our site, but obviously the area that was affected by the fire, that area has been frozen so we can start an investigation.
“I’m not aware of any impacts to air quality, adverse impacts to air quality and that’s something that we would be monitoring.”
The site, located 40 kilometres north of Fort MuMurray, was only open to “essential Syncrude personnel” on Saturday. At this point it’s not known exactly what caused the fire. Gibson said it was too early to tell if production would be impacted.
“It’s going to take time to assess what, if any, impact there will be on front line or production.”
Saturday’s fire at the Mildred Lake facility comes about three weeks after 30 blue herons were found dead at the site. A few days later the company was issued an environmental protection order form the Alberta Energy Regulator.
READ MORE: Syncrude bird deaths bring up ‘serious concerns’ with regulatory policies: Alberta First Nation
No one was injured in the incident and all workers were accounted for. Gibson said the restricted access to the site made for some traffic tie ups north of Fort McMurray Saturday morning.
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