VANCOUVER – The concrete-lifting company at the centre of the forced evacuation of the 21-storey Electra Building in Vancouver had neither a valid business license nor a permit for the work it was doing, the city said Tuesday.
But whether Richmond-based True North Concrete Lifting required a permit is still under investigation, according to Will Johnston, Vancouver’s chief building official.
The lack of a valid business license and a permit are just a few of the things city and health officials have discovered in the wake of the accident last week when the company caused an unexpected chemical reaction while trying to lift a section of concrete plaza outside the Electra, which is at the corner of Nelson and Burrard streets.
As environmental testing of the crippled building began Tuesday, officials said they now know that True North tried to inject 700 litres of expanding foam into the cavity, far more than what is normally recommended. The application caused an enormous amount of heat that caused the material to smoulder, according to Steve WIlk, a part owner of PHH ARC Environmental, which was hired by the building’s strata council to test for residual chemicals.
"They were mixing a two-part foam and installed too much material and caused an exothermic or hot, heated reaction. The material then smouldered," he said.
Wilk, an industrial hygienist, identified the material as an isocynate-based polyurethane foam.
He said the foam created a number of gases and vapours, some of which he identified as "carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, the isocynate material, nitrogen dioxide." He has a team of four specialists working on the case.
It will be at least one or two more days before residents will know whether they can reoccupy the building, Deputy City Manager Sadhu Johnston said. That’s because PHH ARC has to test for chemical residue to the level of parts per billion. Once the company says it’s okay, the city will still need the approval of Vancouver Coastal Health before allowing residents back in, the deputy city manager said.
The accident forced the evacuation of 242 residential units and 205 commercial units. But it also severely reshaped traffic in the downtown core as well as the city has shut down Nelson Street between Hornby and Burrard streets to assist the Vancouver Fire Department’s HazMat team.
The slow pace of determining how badly contaminated the tower is has angered some of the strata unit owners, who again met with city and health officials Tuesday morning. Several said they thought the city was doing as much as it could but they also wondered why businesses are not getting the kind of help being offered to residents.
Ross Huguet, of GoTo Productions, said the accident harmed the release of a cable television show. All of the master tapes for The Pia Show are locked in the basement of the Electra and he had to demand back a single copy of a release he gave to the media just to be able to produce a workable version for next week’s timed release.
"We’re meeting at the Starbucks every morning with iPads and we’re producing the next episode of The Pia Show on an iPhone4," he said.
"We have offices in there and we can’t access anything and they are not addressing what is going for the businesses. We have 15 employees and all of our files are there," said Marie Laderoute.
Armida McDougall, an owner of one unit, said she was angry that the company involved in the accident has so far not met with residents.
"I asked questions about why the company is not here. Why are they not here," McDougall asked. "I would ask them if they are dealing with noxious chemicals should they not have mechanisms in place in case things like this happen or are they just flying by the seat of their pants. It would seem to me they should be here answering questions and answering the concerns of people. I think it is completely irresponsible."
WIll Johnston said he’d been in contact several times with the contractor to determine what it was trying to do when the accident occurred. But Sadhu Johnston, the deputy city manager, said the contractor was not invited to the meeting with residents and businesses Tuesday.
If there is any silver lining in this story, it is that health officials do not believe the chemical compounds identified so far will produce long-term effects
"At this point while we are awaiting for the test results out of an abundance of caution, we aren’t anticipating serious health effects for anyone either in the short or long term," said Dr . Reka Gustafson, a communicable diseases specialist for Vancouver Coastal Health.
"There certainly are people who have had a fair amount of sore throats and nausea and malaise and they have been assessed," she said. "We are tracking those initial assessments and getting a sense whether or not there is something we aren’t anticipating."
The city said under a testing plan approved by the health agency PHH ARC Environmental will do surface swipes and air testing in the commercial and residential spaces to check for a range of chemicals identified as by-products from the overheating of the foam. Wilk said it will take at least one or two days to do the initial testing, primarily on the first three floors of the building.
The building was evacuated on Saturday after what the Vancouver Fire Department termed "an improper installation" created so much heat that the underground substance caught fire and emitted clouds of noxious fumes.
All 242 residential units, and 205 commercial units were evacuated. As of Monday night the city, along with Emergency Management BC, found housing for 166 people in four area hotels. The province also gave a number of people funds for groceries and clothing.
jefflee@vancouversun.com
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