The provincial government says it has requested a “detailed report” investigating the explosion at a steel factory in Hamilton, which sent clouds of brown and red smoke into the air on Christmas day.
The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks says it will follow up with the company, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, on Tuesday to investigate the cause and gather any additional information.
Ministry staff, who attended the site, “will monitor the situation to ensure the appropriate actions are taken to protect human health and the natural environment,” said ministry spokesperson Lindsay Davidson.
Residents of Hamilton, Stoney Creek, and Burlington reported hearing the blast from the city’s waterfront industrial zone on Dec. 25. They told CBC News it sounded like “bombs going off” with one person noting that the air smelt of sulfur.
The ministry says its spills action centre received multiple complaints about the clouds of smoke seen across the region. It found that a fire broke out in an ArcelorMittal blast furnace at 300 Wilcox Street, north of Burlington Street.
The company reported around 11:10 a.m. that “a large eruption from their slag handling operations” caused the release of “significant emissions” into the air.
Marie Verdun, a spokesperson for ArcelorMittal Dofasco said they believe the explosion was caused by molten slag and iron coming in contact with water that was in the slag pit. This caused a series of eruptions, she said.
The company has undertaken an internal investigation into the cause of the incident, says the ministry.
The ArcelorMittal Dofasco Fire Department was able to get the fire under control, according to the ministry.
Davidson said there were no injuries and no major damage to critical infrastructure at the blast furnace, though three small storage buildings were damaged by the explosion and fire.
The ministry said there are no catch basins in area, and the company reported that the fire water was contained to the immediate area, meaning there “were no surface water impacts.”
It also said that no offsite impacts from particulate fallout have been observed.
“The local Hamilton Air Monitoring Network stations were reviewed and there were no elevated concentrations of suspended particulate matter,” said Davidson.
Verdun said that the reaction would have been comprised of “mostly iron, iron oxide and water vapour, as well as silica, calcium, magnesium, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.”
