Soil tests for 'chemicals of potential concern' after AIM fire due soon, says medical officer

Officials should know within a couple of weeks what, if any, harmful chemicals the fire last month at American Iron and Metal's scrapyard in Saint John left behind.

The fire, which started around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 14 and burned for roughly 40 hours, prompted a city-wide shelter in place order due to the hazardous smoke.

Dr. Kimberley Barker, the regional medical officer of health, said soil testing results from 12 locations are expected by mid-November.

"Of course this is the million-dollar question — what are we looking for?" she said during a presentation to the city's public safety committee earlier this week on the community garden impacts from the smoke.

The cause of the AIM fire hasn't been determined yet, she said.

"So what we decided to do, together with the consultants [CBCL Engineering and Environmental Services], is assume that it was an entire car that caught on fire — full of gas, still tires on, and exponentially decide what chemicals would have been exuded from such a car fire.

"And then the [fire] chief kindly pointed out to us … that it was probably the equivalent of 10,000 car fires," she said.

"So that just stressed the importance of our decision in terms of the chemicals that were chosen."

They came up with a "large list," which includes some carcinogens, she said. Among the "chemicals of potential concern," are "available metals," mercury and cyanide, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans, volatile organic compounds and petroleum hydrocarbons. 

"The burning question that we get on a daily basis from our community partners is, where are we sampling?" said Barker.

Of the 12 sites, nine fell within the plume, she said, sharing Environment Canada atmospheric dispersion modelling maps that illustrate how the plume shifted over time, due to the wind. There was no wind for the first few hours, she said, then it blew north into the neighbourhoods, headed northeast and ultimately pushed the smoke back over the harbour.

The nine sites include:

The other three sites — Centre scholaire Samuel-de-Champlain field, Dannell Drive and Harbour View High School — are within the same distance from the metal recycling plant, "however, based on the direction of the wind and atmospheric pressure, they were not impacted by the plume," said Barker.

These are being used as control sites to determine what chemicals might have already been in the soil before the fire and identify what can be attributed directly to the fire, she said.