Emergency preparations well underway to meet heightened HAZMAT risk

Windsor Fire and Rescue Services has been working to prepare for heightened HAZMAT risk ahead of relaxed restrictions around the transportation of some hazardous materials across the Ambassador Bridge.

On Friday, Windsor officials attended meetings with their American counterparts along with representatives from Homeland Security to work through emergency planning for responses on the international crossing, should a HAZMAT incident arise.

“Those types of meetings will continue moving forward, working with all the emergency response agencies on both sides of the border to ensure that we're all on the same page,” said Jamie Waffle, the incoming chief and current deputy chief of WFRS.

“We're all communicating, we're all talking the same language moving forward.”

The loosened restrictions are set to take effect on Oct. 29 after the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) approved a request from the company that owns the Ambassador Bridge to remove the red tape on Class 3 and Class 8 materials — which are flammable and corrosive compounds.

MDOT conducted an extensive review and consultation process before arriving at its decision, which requires new safety measures including scheduled truck transports and restricted crossing hours for the products in question.

Waffle is supportive of the measures, even as he and the department express concern over the loosened restrictions.

“They can’t just show up at the border and cross over,” said Waffle, referring to the scheduled transports.

“We just need to be more prepared, make sure our I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed and that we have a robust response plan in place.”

In a statement to CTV News, the City of Windsor maintained its concern with the transportation of HAZMAT products across the bridge; however, it stressed WFRS would be prepared for any necessary response.

The city is again pointing to Transport Canada as responsible for managing the bridge and calling for action, despite the federal agency’s assertion that its regulations have been satisfied and it has no power to control traffic on the international crossing.

“The federal government has authority over the bridge, and while Windsor Fire will always respond to an incident to the best of its ability, it will be incumbent upon the federal government to ensure a proper response,” read part of the city statement.

Waffle is confident in the expertise that exists in Windsor to manage what he describes as “low frequency, but high risk” events.

“We have good people in place. We have a good team in place and we will deal with any incident that arises as we see fit,” said Waffle.

Environmental concern

The measures in place are welcomed, but not entirely confidence-inspiring for Ken Drouillard, a researcher with the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) and the director of the School of the Environment at the University of Windsor.

“It really has no capacity to contain a large spill or runoff that's landing onto the road surface of the bridge itself,” said Drouillard.

He said the span is porous and a spill could simply leak through the bridge into the river below. That’s where the speed of the Detroit River could prove a problem for a HAZMAT response.

“It really has no capacity to contain a large spill or runoff that's landing onto the road surface of the bridge itself,” said Drouillard, adding drinking water intake valves near the bridge could be contaminated quickly.

“Material dropping from this bridge will hit that in minutes, faster than any spill response could be activated. You would be looking at an automatic shutdown of the drinking water system.”

Drouillard also highlighted the risk hazardous materials pose to long running habitat and river restoration efforts.

“Things like corrosive materials could lead to longer term toxicity as those, for example battery components, travel downstream [and] leach — that could pose setbacks on wetlands and critical habitat that are nursery areas for fish,” said Drouillard.

“If it's something like fuel spills, maybe that's dispersed fairly quickly, but undoubtedly it's going to have some ecological harms.”

While the onus is on the city to manage the emergency response and route HAZMAT goods on local streets, Drouillard believes the province also has a role to play.

“Ontario needs to build its own risk assessment, particularly for community, particularly with the prospect of Gordie Howe [International Bridge] onboarding and rerouting more hazardous material away from the Blue Water Bridge and hopefully away from the Ambassador Bridge,” said Drouillard.

When previously contacted concerning the loosened HAZMAT restrictions on the Ambassador Bridge, the Ministry of Transportation indicated it has no authority to direct routing on the bridge and adopts federal standards for the transport of dangerous products.

City statement

The City of Windsor has always expressed concern about hazardous goods crossing the Ambassador Bridge due to the age of the bridge, lack of modern spill containment systems and vigilance over protecting the Detroit River. These goods have traditionally used the former ferry crossing, which is now out of business.  The City acknowledges that certain hazardous goods need to travel through the community to support economic supply chains. Hazardous goods travelling on our roads is not new, and incidents relating thereto are something that Windsor Fire and Rescue Services is equipped to manage. However, a significant incident on the bridge may create additional challenges. The federal government has authority over the bridge, and while Windsor Fire will always respond to an incident to the best of its ability, it will be incumbent upon the federal government to ensure a proper response.