Feared ammonia leak temporarily closes Logan Lake arena

Oct 11, 2018 | 12:19 PM

LOGAN LAKE, B.C. — An oil leak with traces of ammonia closed the Logan Lake Recreation Centre early this morning.

An alarm designed to alert workers to ammonia sounded at about 12:30 a.m., after the facility had closed for the evening.

In a news release, the District of Logan Lake says the recreation centre’s Ammonia Ice Plant Facility had recently undergone upgrades and safety protocol improvements to “ensure a safe environment for both District staff and the public.”

No one was in the building when emergency crews arrived.

It was first beleived to be an ammonia leak in the ice plant, but upon further inspection the reason for the alarm was detected.

“There was an oil leak in one of the compressors and there was residual ammonia in the oil that was of a significant enough quantity to trigger the alarm,” said Logan Lake CAO Randy Lambright.

“What it showed us ultimately was that the system protocols worked and that our alarm system worked.”

Old equipment at an arena in Fernie led to an ammonia leak in October of 2017, killing three people.