Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Entwistle, Alberta (CA)
Address: 7317 Twp. Road 534, T0E 0S0
Type: Gas Explosion
Fuel: Unknown
Industry: Wood Pellet Production (Natural Resources)
Equipment: Unknown
Company: Pinnacle Renewable Energy
Database Incidents: None Recorded
Loss: 12 Injured
Capital Cost: Unknown
Status: Open
Confirmation: Unconfirmed
Company Description:
According to the company website, Pinnacle Renewable Energy is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of industrial wood pellets. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Prince George, BC, it currently operates eight wood pellet production facilities in western Canada.
The Entwistle plant opened in the fall of 2018. It was covered in a recent issue of Wood Bioenergy magazine, which mentioned the plant’s explosion suppression and explosion isolation design and other measures taken to reduce the chance of explosions. After the explosion, Pinnacle confirmed on its website that it was suspending operations at the plant.
Incident Description:
On February 11, 2019, CTV News Edmonton reported a dust explosion and fire at a wood pellet production plant in Entwistle, Alberta.
Approximately 20 fire crews responded to the incident, which occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. The fire presented some initial challenges: the county fire chief said that it was an industrial setting with a lot of damaged structural steel, so they were concerned about debris. Cold was another issue, so firefighters had to make rotational changes on their shifts.”
At least three people were taken to the hospital. One victim’s mother said that her son was helping another employee put out a fire when she heard the explosion. Both her son and the worker suffered head injuries. Of the three victims, one man was airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton while the other two went by ground ambulance. The first man was originally reported to be in critical condition, but the Drayton Valley Western Review stated on February 16 that he was now stable.
One witness told Global News that he felt the explosion from one kilometer away.
Alberta Labour confirmed Occupational Health and Safety had been notified and a team was en route. The CFO for the company said that it would work with OHS to determine what caused the incident.
Previous Incidents:
According to the CBC, a fire at the Entwistle plant was reported to OHS in January 2019. OHS also inspected the facility in December and in January after workers lodged a complaint, and an order was placed on the site regarding equipment safety.
Incident Update:
When CBC News followed up on the incident to report the plant reopening, they also noted that the total injury count had been updated to twelve – six employees and six contractors.
Research Team Update:
The DustSafetyScience research team has been notified that preliminary investigation suggests that this incident resulted from a combustible gas explosion in the dryer operation. As such the incident has been changed from a dust explosion to a gas explosion, until findings from the investigation are made public and can be reviewed.
Sources:
CTV News Edmonton
Global News
CBC
Drayton Valley Western Review
CBC – Feb 22, 2019
