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35 Tuesday, August8,13, 2013 Vol. 7,Vol. No.8,2,No. Tuesday, November 2011
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Personnel with emergency services were out in full force following a 911 call from a farm near St. Michael shortly after noon on Wednesday, August 7.
St. Michael area resident seriously burned following explosion Michell Pinon Editor
An explosion on a farm near St. Michael Wednesday afternoon was great cause of concern for emergency services personnel who were quickly dispatched to the scene shortly after 12 noon. Randy Siemens, emergency services co-ordinator for Lamont County, said he received the urgent distress call around 12:10 p.m. and he immediately called Prairie Emergency Services as well as STARS air ambulance. The Lamont Fire Department and the Two Hills RCMP were also dispatched. According to a statement released by the Two Hills RCMP the day of the accident, it stated
that: “Two Hills RCMP with the assistance of Smoky Lake RCMP, Prairie EMS and Lamont Fire Department responded to an explosion at a farm where a male was reportedly on fire. The male appears to have been working inside a Quonset hut on a barrel with a torch when an explosion with an unknown substance occurred. The male, along with a truck ignited. The male suffered serious burns to his body and was rushed to the University of Alberta Hospital with undeterminded injuries.” Visually Siemens said it appeared as if 70 per cent of the man’s body was covered in burns. Siemens, who has been to multiple calls like this over the years, stressed the importance of getting
fluids via intrarvenous and oxygen to assist with breathing as quickly as possible. Attempting to cut a used barrell is never a good idea, even if it’s empty or filled with water as there still are vapours and residue from chemicals present. Siemens added that there is a lot of misinformation surrounding this topic, and that is why Lamont County posted a warning on its website shortly after the accident to warn residents. According to the article on Lamont County’s website, the recycling of these drums is common practice especially in our agricultural setting. These drums are generally cut with an angle grinder or with welding equipment which can be quite dangerous, and has
already resulted in a number of serious and/or fatal accidents. Even if the drums are empty, there is still a chance that they could contain residual flammable substances or vapor
that could explode when exposed to any sort of heat, sparks or open flame. The article goes on to say “Never cut drums that have contained flammable liquids or
flammable gasses, even drums that have been empty for a long time. Rinsing drums with water is not a fail safe method of purging vapors from containers.”
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All that remains of this truck is the steel shell and charred debris.