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Company says flames at Sarnia refinery didn't cause any damage

Posted at 9:10 PM, Feb 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-23 23:13:51-05

The Canadian company Imperial says spectacular flames at their Sarnia complex were nothing to worry about.

A company spokesperson says flames visible in the night sky were part of visible flaring, caused by a release of gas and pressure that built up due to a operating issue.

Posts to social media showed the flames throughout the complex.

Imperial has released the following statement about the situation.

Imperial personnel are responding to an operating issue at Sarnia Site and as a result of the issue there is visible flaring.

The issue occurred at approximately 6:20 p.m. The site’s emergency warning sirens were activated to alert personnel onsite to respond. The Sarnia CVECO organization has been notified and Imperial has also notified the City of Sarnia. Shortly after responding to the operating issue, Imperial fire response personnel assisted in extinguishing a grass fire on public property to the south of Imperial’s site.

Imperial will investigate the cause of the operating issue and personnel will work to restore normal operations as safely and quickly as possible.

Imperial has notified the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

There are no reports injuries.