Ammonia leak found at Moncton arena forces crew to reflect on B.C. tragedy

Maintenance crews at the Superior Propane Centre in Moncton rushed to fix a small ammonia leak that was detected in their cooling system early Wednesday morning.

The minor leak did not pose a hazard, but did drive home the dangers of ammonia in light of the tragedy in Fernie, B.C, said Jean Martin, the rink’s head of maintenance.

“Ammonia will go into your lungs and act like water and it will drown you,” he explained.

READ MORE: 2 city employees, 1 contractor killed following Fernie ammonia leak at arena

Martin says the City of Moncton employee who works on the cooling system detected a small leak coming from a damaged valve about 8 a.m. and it was promptly fixed.

According to him, the leak was so small it didn’t pose a hazard to staff nor people using the ice surface.

“He replaced a valve. It was a five or 10-minute job and he was out. It was no problem,” Martin said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He replaced a valve. It was a five or 10-minute job and he was out. It was no problem," Martin said.

But rink manager, Nicholas Frizzell, did hold an emergency toolbox meeting with maintenance employees to discuss the dangers of toxic ammonia exposure, after discovering that three people died following a possible ammonia leak at an arena in BC.

“Obviously it was very tragic you never want to see something bad happen to anyone at a facility,” Frizzell told Global News.

WATCH: State of emergency declared after fatal ammonia leak in Fernie

2:47 State of emergency declared after fatal ammonia leak in Fernie

Martin said that small ammonia gas leaks are fairly routine and are usually contained within the cooling room. In his 15 years working at the rink, there has never been a major leak and the facility is inspected every two hours.

He said rinks across greater Moncton use similar ammonia-based cooling systems to keep ice surfaces frozen and staff are routinely trained in how to deal with a potential spill.

“Very dangerous, obviously it is deadly,” said Frizzell.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Very dangerous, obviously it is deadly," said Frizzell.

But he said the general public using any of the four rinks at the Superior Propane Centre would not be affected by the smaller ammonia leaks they’ve experienced in the past.

“Usually with a plant leak like that it would be isolated to the plant room more away from the public itself which is better and that is the back of the building. so it is a concern and there are alarms and protocol in place in case it does happen,” said Frizzell.

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That’s when an emergency ventilation system could kick in, drawing the deadly gas out of the facility.

The City of Moncton has purchased new breathing packs that will be installed at rinks throughout the city in the coming weeks. They are supposed to last longer and will be used by staff in the event of ammonia leaks.

Frizzel says there is newer rink technology that does not use the potentially deadly ammonia gas but there are no plans to upgrade the system yet.

“Ammonia is still a very good primary refrigerant so it does the job of taking away the heat from the surface and making it frozen. A retrograde away from it is very pricey at this point,” he said.