No investigation into weekend’s big boom
Loud sound from Robin Hood Bay was result of freak accident, mayor says
St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen says what was a fairly routine explosion at the Robin Hood Bay dump was amplified by a unique meteorological phenomenon and won’t require discipline for the contractor.
Residents were jostled by an explosion on Saturday evening that shook houses near the dump and was heard as far away as Paradise.
No one was injured as a result of the incident. The city is pointing to “temperature inversion” as the cause of the noisy disturbance.
Temperature inversion happens when the air at higher elevations is warmer than the air below it. The phenomenon causes the colder air to stay put, as it can’t penetrate the air above. It’s not a particularly rare phenomenon — freezing rain is one of the potential side effects.
Between the routine detonation and the hard-to-predict
weather phenomenon, Breen says there’s no consequences expected for the contractor. “My understanding is that they weren’t aware. The person in charge was not aware of the weather condition at that time,” Breen said.
“It’s not one that can be forecasted. It just happens. I don’t think there was anything more, according to our staff, that the person on site could have done.”
Breen says notices aren’t usually given for blasting at Robin Hood Bay, given how far away the blasts are from residential areas. But just to be cautious, more notification will be given, Breen says.
“We’re going to be giving notifications whenever blasting takes place, but it happens periodically. We’ll just send out a no- tice that it is there,” Breen said. “We do have requirements in residential areas that we give notices on blasting, but at the locations at the back of Robin Hood Bay, it’s not usually an issue.” Authorities at St. John’s International Airport confirmed all planes are accounted for and said they are not aware of any fighter jets or anything of that nature scheduled to fly over that would result in a sonic boom. Stephen Halchuck, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, said their instruments did pick up a noticeable signal at 6:07 p.m. St. John’s time, but he confirmed it was not an earthquake. Speculation took off on social media on Saturday about the cause of the #Nlboom.
Breen said the early speculation that Godzilla was the cause of the noise was unfounded. “Godzilla has not been seen near the landfill. We’re pretty sure it wasn’t him.”