Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

FALSE ALARM

Ammonia leak scare causes evacuation of Kamloops arena Monday

Aug 13, 2019 | 5:08 PM

KAMLOOPS — On Monday evening, a potentially dangerous situation arose for city staff at Brock Arena, which forced the evacuation of that facility and the attached pool.

At around 7:00 pm alarms connected to ammonia sensors sounded, which caused staff to initiate evacuation procedures throughout the building and the pool. Close to 35 people were evacuated from the building, and Kamloops Fire Rescue attended. Luckily, what they found was good news for city staff.

“It was a false alarm,” City Facilities Manager Jeff Putnam explained Tuesday afternoon. “A sensor that detects ammonia inside the ice plant was faulty. There was no ammonia leak, I just want to make that clear, and all our protocols were followed very well. I’m very proud of how our staff and KFR responded.”

In 2017, three people died as a result of an ammonia leak in an arena in Fernie, BC. Putnam says that tragedy highlighted the importance of safety in ice plants, and as a result, many safety procedures and protocols have been updated.

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“We do more regular testing for ammonia in individual ice plants; we’ve got extra venting that’s been installed since the Fernie tragedy. We’ve got more frequent inspections… really, checking sensors and that type of things,” Putnam said. “Certainly, all the things we’ve done as a city and across the province, with Technical Safety BC and WorkSafe BC, I think [safety] has really improved.”