The fiancée of 37-year-old Ryan Konkin says hearing the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) was due to inspect the St. Catharines, Ont., facility he worked at in and around the time of a fatal fire was a “like a punch to the gut.”
Natalia Sepulveda-Lastra says that revelation from a regional supervisor during an update of the mid-January Ssonix Products blaze, took her by surprise.
“I didn’t expect to hear that information last night,” Sepulveda-Lastra told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
“That was the first time I heard it … when I heard it, I started to shake.”
When asked by a resident who lived near the site concerned about the frequency of inspections at the Keefer Road business, Niagara Region MOE supervisor Taylor Buck said they were just days away from doing one when the fire happened first.
“Unfortunately, this incident happened before we could be there,” Buck told residents at the Grantham Lions Club gathering.
“Not to say that inspection would have changed what occurred that day, but, certainly it could have shed some light on issues that could have possibly prevented it.”
Close to 11.5 million litres of douse water were needed by the firefighters to contain a large blaze which started just after 6:30 a.m. Jan. 12 at hazardous materials company Ssonix.
Konkin sustained significant burns to his body when he opened up a door to the plant and was hit by flames.
He passed away after being rushed to hospital with serious injuries and was the only casualty of the fire.
City and provincial officials gave assurances Wednesday that there’s little health risk for residents in the Port Weller neighbourhood, just two months after exposure to the chemical fire which saw nearby neighbourhoods evacuated.
Officers from the MOE reassured constituents there has been little impact to air quality since the event, however some volatile organic compounds and metals have been discovered in adjacent ditches and will need remediation.
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The MOE, St. Catharines fire and the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) conveyed to residents that the multiple investigations underway at the site, related to the cause of the blaze and it’s ecological impacts, will take time.
Upper told residents that despite the on-site investigation concluding Feb. 10, actual conclusions on what the potentially caused the flames are likely to take months.
“Everyone’s back into their offices sifting through all the data, all the information that was collected over those four weeks,” Upper explained.
“So it’s going to take months before they get this whole thing wrapped up.”
The ministry has suspended Ssonix’s environmental compliance approval to receive and process waste pending completion of the MOE and OFM investigations.
Global News did reach out to SSonix owner Steve Baker for comment on the fire and the ongoing probes. He refrained from issuing any statements until all matters with the authorities are completed.
Sepulveda-Lastra says those ongoing investigations are the “tough part” for her and family who are looking for closure.
“That we can’t get all the answers in that sense … is unfortunate because as a family we just want to know in order so we can proceed with the healing part of such a traumatic accident,” she said.
Mayor Mat Siscoe took the time to offer condolences to Konkin’s immediate family and Sepulveda-Lastra at the town hall and pledged to make the safety of the neighborhood and its environment a “top priority.”
Of the safety concerns brought up by residents during the meeting, evacuation routes and particularly Seaway access were top of mind.
A primary access for getting to Port Weller, bridges over the water are controlled by Canada’s Ministry of Transport stirring up concern over the prospect of closed thoroughfares during an emergency event.
Siscoe pleaded with residents to email and message local MP’s and let them know why future discussions over bridge control is paramount.
“The one thing we had feared would happen, happened, an emergency event,” Siscoe said.
“And very luckily we were in the time of year where the bridges were down.”
For Sepulveda-Lastra, Wednesday’s discussions were “comforting” conveying “the importance of community” and “a need to protect people” who work around the industries Ryan was a part of.
“I just want to be able to make sure something like this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” she said.
“That’s all Ryan would have wanted and honestly, that’s the only thing keeping me going at this moment.”
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