City of Burnaby Council have given staff the green light to begin planning for a full-scale emergency response exercise in the next 24-36 months. The City will work with all levels of government, key partners including Trans Mountain, and Rights Holders on a simulation exercise.
“Our primary focus at the City of Burnaby is keeping our community safe and this mock exercise will help us prepare and respond more effectively,” said Mayor Mike Hurley. “Regardless of our past opposition, the Trans Mountain expansion is complete and fully operational. With increased oil transport, comes increased risk. We want to fully understand the risks, increase our capacity to respond and ensure we have the right partners at the table to support a safe, reliable and timely emergency response.”
Burnaby serves as the final terminus for the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline system. In 2021, the City retained ONEC to conduct a risk assessment and develop a computer animation depicting a potential major event at both the Burnaby Mountain Tank Farm and Westridge Marine Terminal. The hypothetical scenario depicted in the computer animation was created with publicly available information at that time and does not reflect the current finished expanded system.
While the probability of a potential major event happening at these facilities is low, the City has sought to strike a balance that acknowledges that such an event could still occur. The computer animation will inform an emergency response exercise and supports a greater collaboration in safety and emergency preparedness among key partners and Rights Holders.
In preparation for the expansion project, the City allocated significant resources to improve emergency response capabilities and mitigate potential community impacts. This includes redevelopment of Fire Station 4, acquisition of new wildfire firefighting equipment and, with the support of the federal government, the construction of Fire Station 8 at the top of Burnaby Mountain, which is nearing completion.
Emergency Preparedness
Under the Emergency and Disaster Management Act, municipalities are legislated to be responsible for planning and managing emergency response operations within their communities but require the support of, and coordination with, the province and federal government. The City of Burnaby is unique as it’s the only municipality in the Lower Mainland with a refinery (Parkland Refining Ltd.) and oil terminal (Trans Mountain).
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Backgrounder
In preparation for a large-scale exercise, in 2021 the City retained ONEC Group to prepare a Burnaby Risk Assessment and produce a computer animation of a hypothetical scenario of a major event which has a very low probability of occurring. It was meant to help inform an emergency response exercise that will take place in the next 24-36 months and will require participation from all levels of government, key partners, Rights Holders and Trans Mountain. The hypothetical scenario depicted in the computer animation was created with publicly available information at that time and does not reflect the current finished project.
What the computer animation shows:
Scenario 1 — 00:21
The first simulation involves crude oil being spilled at the Burnaby Mountain Tank Farm due to a seismic event.
Sloshing in the tank releases the crude oil to the dike area outside the tank, which is then ignited in the presence of oxygen and sparks from the floating roof. With ignition, the escalation of fire occurs to all areas of the spill and back into the tank underneath the fixed roof. The animation shows fire ignition beneath the roof displaces the welds and blows off the roof. The fire on the tank surface then becomes a full surface tank fire. This could potentially escalate to a boilover.
In the computer animation, an aerial map overlayed with circles illustrates the danger to people depending on their proximity to the fire. Radiant heat from the fire also has the potential to ignite vegetation outside of the fence line, resulting in a wildfire. Radiant heat and smoke models vary widely based on the product that is burning, the atmospheric conditions at the time of the fire, the amount of smoke produced by a fire and mitigative controls in place to protect surrounding infrastructure.
Scenario 2 — 04:41
The second scenario depicts a leak in the tanks at Westridge Marine Terminal. The sequence of events would be similar to the Burnaby Mountain Tank Farm scenario, in this case with jet fuel rather than crude oil, and there would not be a boilover scenario.
The scenario also depicts heat from the tank fire creating pressure against the outside of an onsite pressurized vessel (propane tank). As the heat increases inside the vessel, the pressure would increase, until a pressure relief valve opens. Where the pressure increase inside the vessel is not sufficiently reduced, a pressure-induced explosion known as a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE) can occur. The radiant heat could impact a larger area than the initial tank and dike fire. Smoke from the Jet Fuel tank fire could blanket the Barnet Highway and surrounding residential area.
Scenario 3 — 07:53
The final scenario depicts how a leak in the loading arm mechanism could lead to a fire between the tanker and the berth. If the hydrocarbon ignites immediately on release, the likely outcome is a jet fire. Any delayed ignition could result in a hydrocarbon pool fire or a hydrocarbon flash fire.