Regina’s Co-op upgrader catches fire

There was a fire at the Co-op upgrader in Regina this afternoon. 

Smoke was seen coming from the facility. 

Ten people were injured in the explosion. Eight of them were sent to hospital for burns, the other two were treated on site. The injured people were all contract workers, working on the upgraders expansion. Officals said nearly 450 full time employees and close to 1000 contractors were in the plant at the time of the explosion. All of the injured people were contractors. The Upgrader is currently undergoing a $1.9 billion expansion project.

All employees have been accounted for.

The explosion is suspected to have been caused by a leaking pipe – hydrogen gas and diesel believe to have found the ignition source  The Regina Police Service and Regina Fire Department assisted the plants emergency responders. Police said the call came in at 2:07 p.m. when the Co-op upgrader reported an explosion and large fire. It burned for the better part of an hour.

“On a gas release you don’t worry about putting it out, you don’t want it to re-ignite and explode again,” explainedGilbert Le Dressay, Manager of Safety at the CO-OP Upgrader.“So what you do is isolate the source and then you cool the areas around it and let it burn itself out that’s what they were doing.“ 

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Brent Navin was working Enbridge at the time of the explosion. He said about 20 or 30 minutes before the incident they heard an alarm go off.

“I heard a big explosion and the building shook. I looked out the window and saw this massive fireball out the window and we just all evacuated right away,” he said.

The approximately 50 Enbridge employees all gathered outside, where he said they saw a second, smaller explosion come from the upgrader.

He said they knew something was wrong when they heard the siren, because the refinery usually checks their sirens at noon on Wednesday, and today is Thursday  Police are re-routing traffic off of McDonald Street to Ninth Avenue North from Ring Road to Fleet Street. 

It is being called the worst incident at the refinery in 20 years. 

Officials also stressed there was no threat to public health because of the chemicals that were burning.

“There’s no danger. No toxic danger to the public. This was a hydrocarbon fire. At the ground level there’s no toxic cloud involved, there’s no toxin danger to the public downwind. We can say that without fear of contradiction” said Vic Huard, Vice President of Federated Co-operatives Ltd. 

Stay connected with Global as the story continues to develop.