Some workers returned to work on Friday at the Co-op Refinery, one day after an explosion and fire.
Co-op says 1,000 contractors were sent home and won’t return until the investigation is complete. Another 1,700 workers were sent home due to rain.
Justin Craig is not set to return to work until Tuesday following the long weekend, but he says his crew is going to meet and see if they need more time after the witnessed the incident.
“I was close enough to feel the heat from the flames,” Craig said.
He spotted fire and smoke out the window of his Bobcat. Concern quickly turned to his friends working nearby.
“Once we started running away I kind of looked back and realized where it was, and I thought of Pat, I thought, ‘I hope he’s ok’,” Craig said.
His friend Pat was fine, but throughout the refinery people feared the worst.
“It puts life into perspective,” Andrea Pyle said.
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She worked a fair distance from the blast site, but knew many people who were in area.
“There were a lot of fellow co-workers that were right in the area where it happened and were very close to it that got thrown back from the explosion,” she explained. “They were just in so much shock.”
In total 13 people were treated in hospital. Two remain in what the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region “relatively serious condition”. The Health Region was prepared for mass numbers of patients and made room in the emergency rooms at the General and Pasqua Hospitals.
“Many of the medical and surgical units brought patients up into their units into over capacity areas, and we had ample capacity at both areas,” Executive Director of Emergency Glen Perchie said.
The incident did not result in any evacuations in nearby neighbourhoods. Co-op says within 11 minutes of the fire, crews were monitoring for toxins in the air, but nothing was found.
“Our perspective is that all accidents are preventable and no accidents are acceptable,” Vice President of Federated Co-operatives Ltd. Vic Huard said. “So when something like this happens we take a hard look at what happened and we learn our lessons.”
Craig has already learned a lesson – he says when he returns, hew ill stay far away from the area where the explosion took place.
“I think I’m going to refuse if we have to work in that area,” Craig said. “Where we’re working now, we’re pretty far away, but I’m not going to go back in there, now. It’s not worth it.”
With the many questions of what went wrong still looming, the refinery says they were satisfied how they responded to the emergency.
“Within the first 45 minutes everyone was evacuated, and after 90 minutes all were accounted for,” said Vice President of Corporate Affairs Vic Huard.
EMS, police and the fire department were notified within six minutes of the explosion.
Huard said the explosion has reduced production, although he expects it to return to normal within a few days.
Diesel production is down by 20 per cent and gasoline is down by 50 per cent.
Officials won’t say how long the investigation will take but it is likely the questions everyone is asking will not be answered until then.
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