Perfect storm brewing?

Sometimes, with the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to link together a series of seemingly unconnected events that led to a larger, maybe tragic event. Equally, it is also possible that a series of ongoing events can be recognised as potentially leading to a much worse one. Is there such a perfect storm brewing in Edson?

On June 1, 2017 a downtown fire, which was admirably dealt with by fire fighters from Edson, Hinton and Yellowhead County, prevented a fire from a historic 1920s building from spreading into neighbouring properties. The historic building on 50th St was totally lost. Neighbouring properties suffered only smoke and water damage. There were other fire incidents in the area during the same week.

The next day, June 2 the Town of Edson issued a water advisory to conserve water, the weather was dry, but also because of a heavy use of water the towns reservoirs needed time to return to normal levels. Had another major fire broken out that day one can only speculate as to how or if it could have been extinguished.

On Dec. 30, 2017, during an exceptional and quick freeze, Edson crews were alerted to a major water break on 51st St and 2nd Ave. During this break it was estimated that 300,000 gallons of water were lost, very quickly. We understand that the underground pipe was smashed so badly by force of the leak that little of the section remained.

The Town of Edson say because of that sudden loss of water and because the vents of one of the town’s reservoirs (the smaller one) were frozen, something that heat taping may have prevented, a vacuum was created causing the reservoir’s roof to be badly damaged. At a stroke 40 per cent of Edson’s water storage was knocked out. The reservoirs are around 60 years old.

At various council meetings repairs were discussed and at the latest Committee of the Whole meeting on Mar. 27 estimates for repair were presented to council averaging around $330,000 with eight to 10-week timelines for repairs. Town engineer, Dawit Solomon, who did offer to resign at the meeting, strongly urged council to go ahead and fix the reservoir anyway without waiting for the insurance decision. At the April 3 council meeting it was recealed that insurance a will cover repairs and the job got the green light. Currently, there is no provision or desire to install temporary water storage. I would not be surprised, given the limited scope of the inspection of the damaged tank for safety reasons, that the job may prove to be more expensive or the town will be forced to down the route of an around $1.7 million spend for a new reservoir.

Solomon told council that he thought fire coverage was adequate for residential fires but expressed doubt as to the capability of handling an industrial fire. It is unlikely that the town’s water storage would be back to a questionable normal before June, maybe later. I truly hope that we’re not looking back at this sequence of events in the future and wishing that other strategies had been pursued. There is a period of risk ahead.