Solving Wheatley gas issue could take up to six months

Alberta experts now on site

By Mark Ribble

WHEATLEY — At a community virtual meeting held on Saturday, September 25, municipal officials announced that the locating and mitigation of the source of the Hydrogen Sulphide gas leak could take up to six months.

Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire made the announcement based on the information they’ve received from the province and technical experts on the ground in Wheatley.

“Our priority is public safety,” said Shropshire. “We need to find the source and what can be done to eliminate or mitigate that.”

Ontario’s Minister ofNorthern Development, Natural Resources and Forestry, Greg Rickford, told the meeting that the province is committed to working collaboratively with the residents and businesses.

“We are here to support your efforts, not just in the investigation but also in the recovery,” he said.

Rickford was on hand with Ontario Premier Doug Ford when he visited last week.

The province has since announced $2 million in funding for businesses affected by the blast.

Members of the Wheatley Disaster Relief Fund met with Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week as he toured the blast area in Wheatley. The Premier vowed to take care of the citizens of the village. Here, he poses with, from left, Chatham-Kent Councillor Mark Authier, Mike Renwick, Kimberly Grant, Premier Ford, Lauren Anderson, Erika Renwick and Chatham-Kent Councillor Melissa Harrigan.

Photo submitted

Rickford said that the province will be there through the process.

“The municipality is leading this, to be clear,” he said. “We are providing support.”

Assistant Deputy Minister of Northern Development, Natural Resources and Forestry, Jennifer Barton, was also in on the meeting and said that the province has obtained a third party from Alberta, and they were expected to be on site in Wheatley sometime Sunday, September 26.

Golder Associates has been involved for some time now as well and they are providing information that the time frame could be anywhere from two to six months.

According to Shropshire, the blast area is stable right now.

“We are monitoring the gas levels and have had zero readings across the board,” he said. “But we have a history of these ‘pressure relief’ situations.”

Chatham-Kent Fire Chief Chris Case confirmed that there are four volunteer firefighters from across Chatham-Kent on scene 24/7, as well as four hazmat technicians from the provincial hazmat team.

When asked about a possible expansion of the evacuation zone, Chief Case explained that the new technical experts on site will do a threat assessment with every step of the work undertaken and that will determine if they have to expand the evacuation zone.