SAINT JOHN — Emergency crews in Saint John were busy working both land and water disasters on Tuesday.
Maritimes Northeast Pipelines and the Saint John Fire Department conducted a mock emergency exercise involving a car crashing into a natural gas pipeline.
In the scenario, the firefighters would have to respond to ignited gas.
They started off by setting up an isolation zone where access would be extremely limited until they knew it was safe to get closer.Once within reach of the line, firefighters would make a water curtain to protect a nearby building from radiant heat.
Because Saint John has a large amount of energy infrastructure, firefighters say it’s important to keep their skills in check.
“You don’t understand how many outside agencies are affected when an incident such as this happens,” says Divisional Chief Mark Wilson.
In the meantime, the Canadian Coast Guard were also playing out a mock disaster of their own — preparing for a possible oil spill in the Bay of Fundy.
Twenty federal and provincial government departments were involved in this exercise as well as the US Coast Guard who set up a command centre of their own in Calais, Maine.
A timely exercise after TransCanada Corp.’s recently proposed a West-East Pipeline, which, if it became a reality, would see a sharp rise in oil tanker traffic going in and out of Saint John.
Joe LeClair with the Canadian Coast Guard says they’re prepared to respond if anything happens. “We’re definitely prepared for any type of spill that’s why we do these types of exercises and we really haven’t changed our level of preparedness due to a pipeline or heard much concern about that.”
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