Work at the site of the Wheatley explosion has stalled after a new gas release was detected.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent said contractors were in the process of excavating around the well closest to the site of the August 26 explosion on Wednesday, when monitoring systems detected the gas release at around 3 p.m. The gas release lasted for around two hours.
Chatham-Kent Fire Chief Chris Case said that the safety precautions that are currently in place worked as planned.
“Gas was collected [for analysis] and directed to the vent to be flared. At no time was there a risk to our community located beyond the evacuation zone,” said Case in a news release.
While the gas release was sufficient enough to smell, Case said the detection instruments only registered “24 parts per billion in the atmosphere.” Case said that is less than one-hundredth of the amount that would represent a safety hazard.
The municipality said officials are in the process of reviewing the gathered data to determine when work can resume.
Once the excavation process is complete, workers will drive a large conductor pipe over the existing well. Remediation of the well is expected to take place once that has been completed.
