An emergency simulation exercise surrounding a sulfuric acid leak had emergency personnel tend to a scenario at the Garson Community Centre April 28.
In this situation, a NorFalco vehicle carrying sulfuric acid spilled part of its load while travelling from the Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations smelter to the Garson Community Arena, where it parked.
It’s a realistic scenario, Glencore Integrated Nickel Operations representative Yonaniko “Iyo” Grenon told Sudbury.com, noting that a similar situation took place in June 2020.
At the time, approximately 20 litres of sulphuric acid leaked from a vehicle’s faulty valve while travelling from Falconbridge to Espanola.
“There was a request (so) that we could improve our communications,” Grenon said of the 2020 incident. “The community was aware a bit late after the incident, and that created some confusion.”
Thursday’s training exercise, which drew from this real-life scenario, was intended to reaffirm these communications practices, both between emergency response organizations and the public at large.
Emergency response crews from Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, NorFalco, Greater Sudbury Fire Services, Paramedic Services and Emergency Management took part in Thursday’s exercise, which saw them converge on site in Garson to initiate a cleanup around a tanker truck while Grenon headed a communications effort at a computer indoors.
Any opportunity to train with area emergency response organizations is one that Greater Sudbury Fire Services is keen to participate in, deputy fire chief Jesse Oshell told local media following the exercise.
“Fire services is always looking for those opportunities, as we train every single day,” he said, adding that exercises such as this offer an opportunity to “get a sense of what we are going to be doing for that immediate mitigation, public safety and scene control.”
The 2020 real-life incident was quickly identified and controlled, he said, adding that the sulphuric acid that spilled in patches along its path was stopped before it spread to waterways or affected anyone’s homes.
That said, he appreciates that more could have been done, which is why today’s training exercise was necessary.
From the 2020 incident, he said they learned that “we can work more collaboratively with industry such as Glencore and their suppliers to determine what mitigation needs to happen first, what product do we need on hand, perhaps, as a fire service to help control and contain.”
Clearer lines of communication can help line up people to arrive on site more quickly for cleanup, he said, adding that they learn from previous incidents to improve procedures.
Sulfuric acid is a byproduct of the smelting and roasting of copper, nickel, zinc and lead ores where sulfur dioxide gases are capture, cleaned, converted into sulfur trioxide and reacted like water to make sulfuric acid, according to information provided by Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations.
The company produces approximately 300,000 tons of sulfuric acid annually, which they say reduces emissions previously responsible for acid rain.
Approximately 90 per cent of this sulfuric acid is shipped by rail, while the balance is transported by truck by a certified operator selected by Norfalco, which is a Glencore company.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
