News

A fire at a battery recycling plant in southeastern B.C. continued to smoulder Sunday, 24 hours after an explosion destroyed the facility, rattling windows at nearby homes and releasing hazardous gases into the atmosphere.

"It was quite spectacular, like a fireworks show with things going bang, bang, bang one after another," Steve Low, who lives in Trail, a few kilometres from the Toxco recycling plant, said in a telephone interview.

He said he saw several plumes of gas streak through the air over a period of 45 minutes to an hour. "Some people were a little worried about it."

Although he went to watch the fire, his wife, Karen, who has a respiratory problem, remained at home.

"She just stayed inside and she was fine," Mr. Low said. "We just closed the windows. It's all dissipated now, and done whatever it has done."

The facility on a 4.5-hectare site along the Columbia River recycles alkaline and lithium batteries. The company's website says that Toxco is the only company in the world that can recycle any size or type of lithium battery. The batteries are commonly used in mobile phones and portable computers.

The used lithium batteries, which are considered hazardous waste by the federal government, arrive at the facility from across Canada and the United States.

They are stored in earth-covered concrete bunkers and subjected to a cryogenic process that cools the material to minus 198 degrees C to render the chemicals almost inert. The lithium is converted to lithium carbonate and resold.

Four years ago, Toxco Waste Management Ltd. was fined $1,000 and required to pay $14,000 to a federal environmental damages fund for importing lithium batteries without a permit.

Fifty-two firefighters from six firehalls in the region were called to the blaze that broke out shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday.

Local officials were advised that the explosions gave off emissions of sulphur dioxide and lithium hydroxide, John MacLean, chief administrative officer for the regional district of Kootenay Boundary, said yesterday in an interview.

Officials from the B.C. Environment Ministry advised residents to stay indoors and avoid breathing any of the smoke, he said.

Initial reports indicated the plumes of gases did not approach anyone's home, Mr. MacLean said.

"It did not stay together, as a gas. It would have gone up and dispersed," he said. "There was never any need to start evacuating anybody."

Matt Gordon, an Environment Ministry spokesman, said ministry officials were on the site to assess the situation, including any possible air quality concerns. Further information was not available yesterday.

Constable Sheldon Arychuk, of the Trail and Greater District RCMP, said the police investigation will begin once the fire is out. Initial reports indicated it started in a small underground building at the recycling plant.