Burnaby refinery warns of odour Thursday

People around parts of Metro Vancouver are being warned they may notice a strong smell, flaring, and visible smoke from the Parkland Refinery in Burnaby starting Thursday.

According to the company, it is “conducting a controlled and necessary operational procedure as the first step in the safe restart of the refinery.”

The Metro Vancouver Regional District says it will be sending out its mobile air monitoring unit to monitor for pollutants during the work.

The process will span multiple days, Parkland Corp. adds.

“As always, our goal is to have minimal impact on our neighbours and nearby communities. However, you may notice increased odour, flaring, and visible smoke over the next few days,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

“We are working closely with our regulators and stakeholders as we advance this procedure, and are taking extra precautionary steps by enlisting third-party air monitoring to supplement the systems currently in place.”

The Calgary-based fuel distributor and marketer said in a release Wednesday it was temporarily shutting down processing operations at the Burnaby facility. The refinery’s blending, shipping, terminal, and rack activities would continue, Parkland Corp. said.

The company added that it expects the Burnaby refinery to return to normal operations is about four weeks.

The facility is the same one that prompted a public safety advisory over the weekend, because of a noxious smell that blanketed the region caused by a fire at the refinery.

“A small amount of fire from one location moved to another location that was maybe a little unsuitable within a unit,” Burnaby Fire Chief Chris Bowcock said Sunday.

“An emergency stop was initiated and any existing product was sent to the flare, which would be noticeable as the flare discharged a little larger.”

While the incident was eventually resolved, it prompted calls for more information from some locals.

“There’s a lot of kids in the city, elders, I’ve got a kid, so I was pretty disturbed by it,” Vancouver resident Shawn Vulliez said.

“They say that everything is all good, but we don’t really think we can trust the oil and gas industry to honestly tell us whether or not they’ve done something that’s harmful.”

-With files from Monika Gul and Pippa Norman