City to conduct a full-scale emergency exercise

The City of Burnaby announced in early September that it plans to conduct a full-scale emergency response exercise to test the city’s readiness in the event of a disaster. The city said the exercise will likely occur in 2027. In recent months, Burnaby has stepped up its emergency preparedness after the expansion of the Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline and tank farm. 

In 2021, the city hired ONEC Group, a third-party consultant, to prepare a risk assessment and an eight-minute animated video of hypothetical scenarios on Burnaby Mountain and the Westridge Marine Terminal. The video was released on the city’s YouTube channel in August. 

The video shows the fossil fuels inside tanks on Burnaby Mountain and Westridge Marine Terminal sloshing around during an earthquake and then spilling onto the ground. The tanks burst into flames, which rapidly spread to the surrounding areas. 

The tanks eventually explode, with walls of fire and smoke rising from the top, ultimately blanketing the entire city with thick, black smoke. Although the video does not have any sound, the effects of the explosions, fires, and smoke are clearly visible. The dramatic animation is punctuated with graphics of the zones where fatalities are expected and evacuation routes impaired. 

Charmaigne Pflugrath, emergency management coordinator at the City of Burnaby, told the Beacon that the city has just started planning for the exercise and will release more details to the public as the planning process progresses.

“We are in the very early stages of the exercise, so the announcement was made that allows us sufficient time to determine a budget and who is going to be on the planning committee. The planning committee has not been struck, nor have we met, so those decisions have not been made.”

She added that Burnaby residents who wish to learn more about the city’s emergency plans and how to prepare for an emergency may contact the city at [email protected] and request an appointment to visit the city and view the emergency plans in person. 

“The exercise is actually a requirement of the former Emergency Program Act and will soon become a part of the new local authority regulation with the Emergency and Disaster Management Act,” Pflugrath said. “We conduct exercises annually, and the last time the city did a full-scale exercise was in 2006. The general manager of community safety and council have decided that the time is right to do another one.”

According to the city’s website, multiple agencies and organizations will be involved in the exercise, and the city will consult with the Tsleil-Waututh, Kwikwetlem, Musqueam, and Squamish First Nations. 

“Invitations for participation will be sent to Simon Fraser University, School District 41, Fraser Health Authority, First Nations Health Authority, City of Coquitlam, City of New Westminster, District of North Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Regional District, TransLink, Trans Mountain Corporation, various ministries of the Province of BC and regulators and response agencies of the Government of Canada, among others.” 

Residents on Burnaby Mountain, where the tank farm is located, have expressed their anxieties about the tank farm for years, saying that the tank farm poses a significant risk to neighbouring residents and SFU students and staff.

The Beacon spoke with Tara Shustarian, a member of the city’s Environmental Committee and resident of the Forest Grove area on Burnaby Mountain. Shustarian also recently announced her candidacy for the BC Greens for Burnaby East. 

Shustarian said that the residents of the area spoke with the Burnaby fire chief about possible scenarios if a fire starts at the tank farm. 

“If anything happens, we are in the incineration zone,” she said. “If there is a gas leak at the tank farm because of the fires, if there’s a benzene leak or if there’s a hydrogen sulfide leak, then we would be able to evacuate. We would run and first evacuate the kids at the Forest Grove Elementary School. Then, there would only be one route for evacuation, and the severity of that gas leak would depend on the direction of the wind. If the direction of the wind was our way, we’d be in trouble,” Shustarian told the Beacon. 

The city recently opened Fire Station Four, adjacent to the Trans Mountain tank farm on Burnaby Mountain. During the official opening ceremony, the mayor spoke with the Beacon about the tank farm and the city’s commitment to keeping residents safe. He also alluded to the planned emergency exercise.  

“If there’s a major incident there, it will take a lot of different pieces to make it work. Our fire department will focus on protecting our residents first. We are not responsible for anything inside the tank farm that is TMX. They’re totally responsible for that. So we have developed plans to protect the neighbourhood around part of it,” Hurley told the Beacon. “We do plan in the future on having a really big emergency exercise with all the partners so that we can really nail down exactly who’s doing what.” 

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

Like what you just read? Do you support local journalism? Help us keep going—and growing.

Sign up for our once a week newsletter, or become an Insider to show your love for local reporters and writers.