Rarely used protocol invoked following QEW crash
It has been more than a decade since local first responders had to pool together as many resources as they needed to face a hazard that closed the QEW to traffic for nearly 12 hours Tuesday.
St. Catharines fire Chief David Wood said the local unified command protocol had never previously been implemented in response to an emergency that involved hazardous materials — not until that transport truck carrying 45 containers of phosphine gas rolled over on the QEW near Martindale Road, at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The last time local emergency workers faced “an incident where we had to activate our UCU (unified command unit) was I think in 2007 when we had that wind storm,” Wood said, referring to a storm with gusts exceeding 100km/h that hit the region shortly before Christmas that year.
But following the collision Tuesday, concerns quickly escalated when responding emergency workers found a placard affixed to the truck bearing the numbers 2199 — indicating it was hauling phosphine gas. The hazardous, potentially flammable gas led to the heightened emergency response, calling in additional resources to protect the community just in case any of the substance leaked.
The colourless, usually odourless gas used in textiles, fumigation and pest control in farms, can also burst into flames when exposed to water and if inhaled phosphine attacks the human body like a military-grade nerve gas.
Because there was no detected leak, Niagara Emergency Medical Services Chief Kevin Smith said there “was not an imminent risk to life” following the crash.
There was, however, “some risk and we wanted to make sure we did it properly, but not to create any panic.”
An evacuation zone was set up in a 1.2-km radius around the crash site, later expanded to 2km as emergency crews prepared for a worst case scenario, said Smith, who also serves as Niagara Region’s community emergency management co-ordinator.
Businesses were evacuated and residents living in about 3,500 homes within that area were advised to “shelter-in-place” — stay indoors with closed windows.
Although it’s rare that joint emergency services protocols are implemented, Wood said first responders regularly train for similar situations.
“Every day there are hazardous chemicals that are being carried up and down the highways,” Wood said. “Unfortunately, situations do happen, accidents do happen, and that’s why the services are here to provide that mitigation.”
Niagara Regional Police superintendent of emergency and investigative services Brett Flynn said the danger posed by the crashed truck is the type of thing “we hope we never see.”
But it’s also a situation that emergency workers “certainly train for, as far as yesterday was concerned, to great degree,” he said.
Flynn said about 50 police officers were dispatched to the area — detectives and other officers were called in, too, because there were not that many uniformed officers on duty in the area at the time — to assist with evacuating businesses, informing residents about the situation, and helping with traffic management.
City streets, however, were snarled for hours.
“Traffic management was certainly an issue,” Flynn said. “Our roadways and their width and everything that we have, it’s not set up for that situation.”
Despite reports on social media websites that some people were allowed to return to their homes within the 2-km radius, NRP Const. Phil Gavin said officers were supposed to prevent all residents from entering the area.
“If they did return home prior to the official lifting of the shelter-in-place notification, and were allowed in, that should not have occurred,” he said.
The shelter-in-place order remained in effect until nearly 1 a.m.
The highway didn’t reopen to traffic until two hours later. Even then, Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said that one east-bound lane near the crash site was expected to remain closed throughout most of Wednesday, to allow repairs to be made to the highway median.
While it might have been an inconvenience for motorists as well as affected residents, Wood said the precautions were intended to keep the emergency from escalating. “Every incident can get worse,” he said.
But as a result of the efforts of emergency workers, he said the incident did not escalate beyond that initial emergency and no injuries were reported.
“We’re just fortunate,” Wood said. “I believe in divine intervention.”
Smith said the closure of the busy highway did create “some secondary challenges.”
“There were one or two incidents where it was just more out of confusion and panic, and people calling 911 to make sure others were well and for us to be able to access the area to make certain,” he said. “But there were no outcomes that were negative as a result of this at all.”
Smith said emergency workers will now review their response, “to make sure we look at ways that we can improve on making that more wholesome for the community.”
“Yes, this was a serious situation, and it could have been much more serious, but it’s also an opportunity for us to now dissect it,” he said.
Schmidt said although OPP officers initially were told that mechanical failure led to the truck crash, that won’t be known for certain until the investigation is concluded.
“Our officers are actually doing the mechanical investigation now, so I don’t have any confirmation on that. That is still yet to be determined,” he said.
Neither the truck’s destination or the shipping company involved in the incident have been identified by police, either.
St. Catharines Mayor Wayne Sendzik was attending a Great Lakes conference in Montreal at the time of the crash, giving him a unique perspective from which to follow it unfolding.
“I can say that everyone did a great job,” he said, referring to firefighters, police, paramedics as well as the city, which set up its emergency command centre.
“Working with the fire department and Niagara Regional Police, the city has a central role to play in that,” Sendzik said.
The city also opened its SeymourHannah Sports and Entertainment Centre on St. Paul Street West to anyone who was unable to return to their homes. St. Catharines communications manager Evan McGint said no one used the facility during the incident.