File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

What's That Smell?

Power outage, gas venting at Kamloops Kruger mill to blame for foul odour Friday

Sep 12, 2025 | 10:06 AM

KAMLOOPS — A power failure at Kruger pulp mill is the catalyst for the foul odour that is filling the air in parts of Kamloops Friday (Sept. 12).

Speaking to CFJC Today, Cliff McGillis, Kruger’s project manager of site services and facilities, said the outage this morning led to the loss of key equipment that resulted in an emergency shutdown at the mill on Mission Flats Road.

“As a result of that, we had to vent our process gases for safety reasons, otherwise it results in a whole bunch of other issues,” McGillis said. “Once [crews] get power restored, they’ll be able to get the mill back up and operational and start stabilizing the gases.”

In a news release, Kruger said the outage happened at 6:21 a.m. It also noted that the venting of Total Reduced Sulphur (TRS) gases is meant to prevent pressure buildup, adding it is needed to keep staff safe and to preserve equipment.

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“As of this update, readings from the Kamloops downtown air monitoring station have remained below 5 parts per billion of TRS, which is within acceptable thresholds,” Kruger said. “The mill is expected to resume operations by the end of the day.”

Environment Canada said a temperature inversion in the Kamloops-area helped exacerbate the smell Friday morning.

Meteorologist Matt Loney told CFJC Today that these inversions tend to trap smoke or other pollutants near the ground, adding things tend to be worse in the morning hours.

“Especially in the morning, we get cooling at the surface compared to the higher altitude, and so that’s the ideal time for pollutants to get trapped near the surface,” Loney said.

“As we get towards midday and the afternoon, that area where pollutants can get trapped can actually expand and go higher so the pollutants can mix out a little bit better as the day wears on.”

Loney also said the Kamloops area is warmer than usual for this time of year, as the area is still under a ridge of high pressure He notes those increased temperatures also increase the chances of temperature inversions.

“Until we get these weather systems moving through and can actually start working on breaking up that inversion to get the air moving with the upper atmospheric winds, that is when we’ll see the pollutants really start to disperse.”

As of 10:00 a.m. Friday, McGillis said crews expect to get power restored at the mill “in a couple of hours.” He said once power is restored and the mill is restarted, it won’t take long to get the gases under control.

“Internally, we deal with these gases normally and when we’re not running, there’s no room for them to go,” McGillis said.

Kruger adds that the cause of the power outage is under investigation.

B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Parks confirmed to CFJC Today that a call regarding a smell in Mission Flats came at around 6:00 a.m. Friday.

This is a developing story and more information will be provided once it’s available.