Like other New Brunswickers, we watched with alarm late last week as a major fire burned at the American Iron and Metal (AIM) facility at the Port of Saint John. We wish we were surprised by this development but given the history of explosions and tragic workplace injuries, even fatalities, at the facility, it is not surprising to see yet another incident at the facility, this one with severe and long-lasting environmental consequences.
We join with the Mayor and Council of the City of Saint John on calling for this facility to be closed. The long history of accidents and seeming unwillingness by owners to change practices demonstrates a pattern that suggests that the operation is unlikely to become safer or less of a problem for local residents.
We agree with Mayor Donna Reardon that “enough is enough” and that AIM’s location is “unacceptable and incompatible with our residential communities on both sides of the harbour.”
We are grateful to first responders for their speedy and effective response and are very aware that this preventable industrial fire drained important emergency resources from the city of Saint John, especially considering the fire coincided with the lead up to Hurricane Lee’s arrival.
As Saint John Fire Chief Kevin Clifford told CBC, a “chemical cocktail” was released from the fire. This pollution entered the air directly from the fire and some of it will have settled into surrounding lands and waters as the smoke dissipated. Further, runoff from water used during emergency response as well as runoff from subsequent rain would have entered adjacent Saint John Harbour waters and traveled both upstream into the Wolastoq with the powerful Fundy tides and out into the Bay. Surrounding residents and the natural environment will be forced to deal with the consequences of this fire, and its resulting pollution, for years to come.
While we are heartened to see that the province has suspended AIMs permit to operate, and that a task force is being created to find out exactly what happened, we remain concerned that similar preventable, and even predictable, industrial incidents can continue to occur in New Brunswick.
Alongside many others, we will be watching this file closely in the coming weeks and months. An incident like this fire has long lasting consequences. We will be looking closely at the regulatory and enforcement environment and push for any changes to prevent an industrial incident like this from occurring again.