Vancouver’s West End Community Centre has reopened after being evacuated for an ammonia leak on Friday.
Park Board recreation service manager Daisy Chin said the leak was detected around 12:30 p.m. from a piece of equipment associated with the ice rink.
“One of our compressors in the ammonia plant did have a small leak in the seal of the drive shaft, and as such when the work was being done on it to repair it the alarm indicator went off, and as such we evacuated the community centre as required,” said Chin.
Chin said the ammonia was quickly isolated in the compressor room, and never made it into another part of the community centre.
She said the entire building was quickly cleared out as a precaution, however several parts were already empty.
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“Currently the school is not in session as it’s leading up to the long weekend, so there were nobody upstairs in terms of the library, which is connected to the school.”
Chin said to her knowledge no one was exposed to the ammonia, injured or treated by paramedics.
The community centre was reopened shortly after 2:30 p.m.
Ammonia, a colourless and odourless gas, is used as a refrigerant to make ice at skating rinks. Chin said the same system is in place in facilities across the city, but described Friday’s leak as an isolated incident that was quickly contained.
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She said all such facilities are equipped with an ammonia detector situated outside of the ammonia plant and compressor room, with an alarm designed to go off notifying staff and the public in the event of danger.
Last fall, three people died from an ammonia leak at an ice rink in the east Kootenay city of Fernie.
Following that leak, believed to be the first such Canadian incident leading to fatalities, some experts have argued that the substance should not be used in public ice rinks.