Runoff from fire at Eastern Townships' additives plant contained hazardous chemicals, ministry says

Matthew Lapierre · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 4:50 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

Quebec's Environment Ministry says hazardous chemicals seeped into the country astir a chemic works successful Bolton-Est, successful the province's Eastern Townships, aft a occurrence destroyed it connected Friday. 

The fire, which started astatine the Polyrheo works conscionable northbound of South Bolton astir 5:30 a.m., drew dozens of firefighters who battled the blaze for hours. As they hosed the warehouse-like structure, agleam greenish runoff seeped from the building. 

First, the occurrence emitted acheronian achromatic smoke, followed by a dense plume of black. Later that time and adjacent aboriginal that weekend, the runoff stained a adjacent creek green.   

The Polyrheo works made additives, according to Tony Thomas, the company's president and CEO. 

He told CBC successful an email that accumulation astatine the tract had been slow, but it had been producing chemicals nonetheless, including boiler attraction chemicals and "certain bundle products, similar windshield washer fluids, citronella oils etc."

But the firefighters connected the country connected Friday didn't cognize that. Pierre Desmarais, main of the Austin occurrence section said Friday they had tried to get ahold of idiosyncratic from the institution to recognize what products were inside. 

"I spoke to people, but those radical conscionable referred maine to different radical and for present we can't get the elaborate list," helium said connected Friday. Desmarais said helium wasn't alert of a circumstantial exigency program for the facility, but noted helium had lone precocious go occurrence chief. 

The Environment Ministry said it lone got the database of chemicals connected Saturday — agelong aft the occurrence was out. 

Thomas said successful a connection that helium and different manager were connected their mode backmost from a commercialized amusement successful Germany connected Friday — which is wherefore determination was a hold successful getting the database to firefighters. 

He said they met section authorities connected Friday evening and discussed "necessary protocols to beryllium followed, to support the situation and neighbourhood."

But helium said the works is old. It was built successful 1982 and was archetypal known arsenic Lutzman Chemicals and aboriginal arsenic LBG Industries. He said the metropolis and occurrence section cognize it good and regularly sojourn the plant, doing truthful arsenic precocious arsenic 2 months ago.

"But since it is simply a delicate subject, they wanted idiosyncratic from our installation to precisely accidental what was determination and confirm," helium said. 

Thomas described the materials stored astatine the works arsenic "mostly non haz[ardous] chemicals." 

But successful an email, a spokesperson for Quebec's Environment Ministry said hazardous materials, "mainly alcohols, arsenic good arsenic ionic compounds (salts), coagulated inorganic compounds and insecticide-type products, were stored astatine the clip of the fire."

A mobile laboratory dispatched to the occurrence connected Friday performed tests connected the country astir the works and recovered the beingness of "volatile integrated compounds" successful the extinguishing water.

The ministry's effect squad took further samples from the runoff and from the creek that runs beside the plant. The results of those tests volition beryllium received successful the coming weeks, the ministry spokesperson said. 

During the fire, municipal officials for Bolton-Est recommended radical who unrecorded adjacent the occurrence enactment indoors and not portion their good water. But that regularisation was lifted aboriginal that day. 

The spokesperson besides said the institution has been mandated to instrumentality measures to "recover the contamination and instrumentality the measures required to support the situation and nationalist health."

"The Ministry is intimately monitoring developments and remains acceptable to intervene if necessary," the spokesperson said. "Should immoderate breaches of biology authorities beryllium identified, the Ministry volition not regularisation retired immoderate recourse to guarantee a accelerated instrumentality to compliance."

Thomas said the institution is prioritizing the cleanup and conducting tract analyses to guarantee determination is nary contamination successful the area. 

"We person started the clean-up process and monitoring each biology areas of concern. Rest assured, this is our apical precedence and you person our committedness connected this," helium said. "Fortunately activities person been dilatory astatine the plant, hence chemicals retention has been connected the little side."

He said nary 1 was astatine the works erstwhile the occurrence broke out. The origin of the occurrence is inactive nether investigation. He said it could person been an electrical shortage.