(Photo Supplied: The lineup waiting to get into Syncrude’s base plant on August 29, 2015 after an early morning explosion. LISTENER PHOTO)
[audio:https://www.mymcmurray.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/sites/11/2015/08/will-gibson-for-web.mp3] Syncrude spokesperson Will Gibson addresses the incident at base mine Saturday morning.
Listeners reported an early morning explosion at Syncrude’s base mine Plant 12 around 5:35 a.m Saturday.
“I can confirm there was a process Saturday morning that started a fire which our personnel have extinguished, nobody was injured in this incident and we’ve accounted for all of the workers at our site,” said Syncrude spokesperson Will Gibson. Syncrude’s emergency response team extinguished the fire “fairly quickly” according to the spokesman.
The plant deals mostly with sulphur.
Contractors are being turned away at the gates and may not be allowed in at all today.
“Access to site is currently restricted to Syncrude personnel to allow an efficient response to this incident, the safety of the people at our site is our top priority and we will be thoroughly investigating this incident and will release more information when available,” said Gibson who doesn’t know when contractors will be allowed back on site.
Traffic up to the site is being impacted.
Some employees who had been at the base mine for night shift are still being told to stay in the mine but others are being sent home.
With files from Sarah Anderson
