More Wheatley residents to return

By Mark Ribble

Another livestream public meeting was held on Saturday, May 14 between Chatham-Kent municipal officials, various agencies and interested Wheatley residents, to give an update and share some good news.

This came on the heels of the announcement early last week that the original target date of completing mitigation work in the area was not going to be met. That announcement moved the target date from the middle of May to end of June.

“We made a commitment to bring you the most up-to-date and factual information,” said Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff. “There have been some significant changes over the past few weeks.”

Canniff then turned the meeting over to outgoing CAO Don Shropshire, who made the announcement that residents were anxiously waiting for.

“We are in a position to reduce the size of the evacuation zone further,” said Shropshire. “There are a couple of key steps that have put us in a position to recognize that we can reduce the evacuation zone.”

DARRIN CANNIFF

Shropshire — through a Powerpoint presentation — explained that several weeks of gas monitoring have been very helpful and although there have been some minor emissions, there is no reason to believe there is reason for concern.

The update also included maps of the new evacuation zone.

On May 6, 11 property owners received letters from the Chief Building Officer with orders to remedy an unsafe building. These 11 properties are in the immediate vicinity of the blast zone and are deemed uninhabitable until structural damage is fixed, if possible.

All other properties within the existing evacuation zone can now be entered, with the understanding that — just as with previously released properties — utilities will not be turned on until certified inspections take place.

Before the reduction of the evacuation zone can take place, four conditions must be met by the work crews.

• The Tait Well mitigation work, which is ongoing, must be completed

• Finalization of monitoring plan and call-out procedures.

• Security and fencing need to be moved.

• Removal of the vented frac tank.

Once these four conditions are met, the evacuation zone will be reduced, which will then only include two houses — 47 Erie Street North and 14 Elm (according to the new map).

The area of the library will remain off-limits as it serves as a staging zone for emergency personnel and work crews.

All commercial and residential buildings on the south side of Talbot Street will be released from the zone, along with a number of buildings on the north side — east and west of the blast zone.

Consulting Engineer Theresa Watson was optimistic that the work they’ve done so far is putting them in a good position.

“We’ve been very closely monitoring each emission point since January,” she said. “We have not seen H2s (Hydrogen Sulphide) gas above 1,000 parts-per-million since early January.”

As she provided her update, she said that since they’ve put in the gas gathering system, they’ve not detected any H2s at ground level. She also had a unique way of explaining the detectable levels.

“There is no measurable flow of gas or H2s,” she said. “Daily measurements are equivalent to about as much as a cow would fart.”

The plan in coming weeks is to finish off the Tait Well mitigation efforts and concentrate on APEC 3, which is the emission point at the corner of Elm Street and the municipal parking lot behind the Legion.

When asked about businesses such as the Wheatley Legion, Manager of Community Development for Chatham-Kent, Bruce McAllister said that structural damage is a concern for many of the buildings within the reduced evacuation zone.

Red outline is the original evacuation zone, with the green outline being the reduced zone and the purple will be the new evacuation zone.

For those who will soon be released from the evacuation, they will need to contact a contractor to inspect electrical and gas connections and then contact the proper utility for reconnection before they will be allowed to move back in on a permanent basis.

Chatham-Kent’s Manager of Health and Family Services April Rietdyk said that the municipality will work with tenants who live in the newly released areas to help them get back into their homes. Case managers can be reached at 519-351-8573 during business hours.

As for risk going forward, Fire Chief Chris Case was very straightforward.

“The risk is being managed and the system in place are managing that risk,” he said. “While we carry on working through this, please be vigilant. The safety of the community is still our primary responsibility.”

Case indicated that the cooperation from the community has been immense and the support for the fire crews has been great.

According to officials, the plan is to have Talbot open for traffic in the next few weeks, with Erie Street South also expected to open at some point. Erie Street North, along with Elm and Foster will remain restricted for the immediate future.