The fire at Squamish Terminals on April 16 lit Squamish social media ablaze, with many local residents lamenting the lack of a fireboat in local waters.
But any future regional emergency events could have a little more assistance if the Woodfibre LNG project moves forward, according to representatives from the company.
Jennifer Siddon, Woodfibre LNG senior manager of corporate communications, said her group has been receiving inquiries in light of what happened at the terminals. WLNG has been committed to having a vessel with firefighting capabilities from very early in the project, Siddon said.
“We will have a dedicated vessel at our site that would potentially be part of any emergency response for a regional event like the one that just happened,” she said. “We definitely could be involved and we could be an additional resource to the community.”
Siddon said there would always be at least one vessel with firefighting capabilities on site, and some of the project’s tugs could also be used in the case of an emergency. She said three tugs will escort tankers arriving at WLNG, and the potential is there to use them in an emergency scenario.
As for fires on the WLNG site, Siddon said the group has operations and communications protocols in the event of an emergency but are working on finalizing details.
She also said WLNG is in the process of removing creosote piles from the Woodfibre site.
“We had a number of conditions for us to take over the site, and there is lots of remediation work to be done,” she said. “We plan to remove about 3,000 creosote piles from the site – this is not a new commitment.”
Siddon praised the work of first responders and the District of Squamish during the fire and said WLNG wants to be a part of the conversation in Squamish.
