The city is keeping a close eye on what caused an ammonia leak at a Fernie arena, killing 3 people.
Martin Johansen, Building Services Manager for the City of Kelowna, says there may be regulatory changes to how the substance is handled, once authorities figure out what happened.
“The first thing that comes to mind, is it must have been something catastrophic,” he guesses “A pressure vessel, perhaps, ruptured and released a significant amount of liquid ammonia, which would have overtaken a room instantly and anybody in the room would have been compromised for sure.”
Rutland Arena, Memorial Arena, Capital News Centre, Prospera Place and the curling club all use ammonia as a refrigerant.
Johansen says the city has had its own share of small leaks over the years.
“Every now and then,” he says “We did have one at an arena about 3 weeks ago that the fire department did respond to and we did evacuate the building. It was a very small leak but it doesn’t take much of a leak for the concentration of ammonia to rise.”
He adds it is technically possible for what happened in Fernie to happen in Kelowna, but says it’s hard to say without knowing all the facts.
“It is a refrigeration system just like our refrigeration systems and it did happen there,” he said “We think and feel that we maintain our arenas and our equipment through a very high standard, we’re meeting all the BC Safety Authority and Worksafe BC protocols.”
The outdoor rink at Suart Park uses a Freon based refrigerant which Johansen says is safer, but has hazards associated with its use as well.