FortisBC says it's too early to determine what caused the explosion and fire in the empty building at the corner of Dominion Street and Fourth Avenue on Tuesday morning.
“We recognize this incident may raise concerns for our customers and the public, so we wanted to emphasize that no determination has been made regarding the cause of the explosion,” said FortisBC major projects communications manager Jillian Drews in an email. “It is under investigation by the local fire department and Technical Safety BC.”
In a Citizen story published Wednesday, the owner of a hotel across Fourth Avenue from the demolished building said there was a delay of 5 ½ hours before Fortis could shut off the natural gas supply to the building but Fortis said the time it took to perform that operation was much less than that.
“FortisBC crews arrived on the scene at approximately 7:30 a.m. Crews next had to confirm there was no gas migrating underground near the affected line,” said Drews. “Once that was confirmed, crews contacted BC One Call to see if there was other utility infrastructure like telecommunication or power lines in the area that could be damaged during repairs. This step takes time but is very important to ensure the work can be done safely.
“A plan was devised to safely excavate and access the gas line. Crews stopped the flow at about 10:50 a.m. The amount of time it took to complete this work is in line with response times for similar events.”
Fortis said Tuesday’s incident serves as reminder to anyone who smells a rotten egg smell or who hears the sound of escaping gas to call 9-1-1 immediately or call FortisBC’s 24-hour emergency line at 1-800-663-9911.
More information on natural gas safety can be found on the FortisBC website.
