An explosion in a meal shed at the Louis Dreyfus Commodities (LDC) canola crushing facility on Highway 16 west of Yorkton shook the city Friday morning.
The shock wave from the blast could be felt in most parts Yorkton. Mayor Bob Maloney said his assistant, who felt the tremor inside City Hall, alerted him about the disaster at home.
Staff at the Sask Abilities Council on Ball Road, almost three kilometres from the plant, said it rattled the windows.
Many downtown residents feared there had been a train derailment.
Stan Williams was duck hunting with a buddy northeast of the airport, about seven kilometres away, when the building went up.
"We heard the big boom," he said. "It sounded like a bomb going off." Even at that distance, Williams estimated it was louder than their shotgun blasts. They could feel the pressure change in the air as he turned to see a huge cloud of smoke rise on the horizon.
Police quickly cordoned off the area keeping media and onlookers off the property as the investigation unfolded. On Monday morning, fire chief Trevor Morrissey said Fire Protective Services had turned the result of the investigation over to the company, but that it would be up to LDC to decide what would be made public. As of press time, LDC refused to make any further comment to its original statement, which simply acknowledged the explosion, expressed gratitude to police and Fire Protective Services and stated an investigation was underway.
Speculation is that it was a dust explosion, but no one will verify that on the record or state what might have been the cause of ignition. Local LDC employees and city officials are forbidden to speak to the media.
Morrisey said if there was danger to the public, he would be obligated to report it, but given he does not believe that to be the case, he will respect the company's privacy.
Remarkably, only one employee sustained what was described as a "minor injury." He was transported to hospital as a precaution.
Maloney was not worried about ongoing problems at LDC and was generally pleased with the way the disaster was handled.
"I think it's a one-off, things can happen at any plant," he said. "I just think we're so fortunate that an occurrence as big as this, there were no real injuries to report."
Not everyone was happy with the response to the emergency. Brian Zinchuk thought his parents should have been evacuated. They are the plant's closest neighbours living just about 300 metres away as the crow flies.
"When something like that happens, you don't know if it's going to be out in five minutes or five hours," he said.
"I don't care if it's a firefighter, a police officer or the dog catcher, but someone should show up in their yard and take them out."
Zinchuk has complained to the mayor, the fire chief and MLA Greg Ottenbreit. He is expecting an official response by the end of the week including amendments to the City's Emergency Management Plan that specify evacuation of the immediate neighbours in emergencies involving the LDC and Richardson canola operations.
"I told the mayor I want that plan changed today because what if something happens tomorrow?" he said.
"We didn't oppose these plants being built, we didn't cause any issues like that, so I would expect if something does go wrong, that at least we're taken care of. I expect if there is any kind of emergency at either of those canola plants, that all the neighbours should all be immediately evacuated until an all clear is given."
Maloney acknowledged talking to Zinchuk and referred him to the fire chief.
"Generally in situations like that, it's the call of the person on scene whether evacuation is required and if there's no evacuation then I guess they don't go out and talk to the neighbours," he said.
Morrisey said even before firefighters arrived on the scene they had plenty of data from LDC that there was no danger of further explosions. His on-scene assessment, he said, confirmed that there was "zero threat" to neighbours. In fact, he stated, they were not even worried about the plant employees who remained on site throughout most of the investigation.
"The only risk we were worried about was structural collapse and that immediate threat was entirely limited to the confines of the plant," he said.
Zinchuk was not satisfied with Morrisey's explanation and told Yorkton This Week he would be taking it to the provincial fire commissioner if the City does not act.
Morrisey said he will be issuing recommendations to Louis Dreyfus to help prevent future incidents.
