Columbia Valley Pioneer Staff
A chemical fumes leak has closed the Regional District of East Kootenay’s Columbia Valley office today and sent one employee to hospital for assessment.
The RDEK reported that this morning’s incident involved the release of some chemical fumes in the water treatment plant side of the building on Windermere Loop Road.
Officials immediately activated an emergency plan and the building was cleared. The Windermere Fire Department and BC Ambulance were dispatched and one employee was taken to hospital. The employee’s condition is unknown.
Firefighters fully ventilated the building and have been working on clean-up protocols with RDEK operators.
“This was an isolated incident, impacting only a portion of the building,” the RDEK said in a news release. There were no impacts to the water system and there have been no interruptions in water service.”
Although ventilation is complete, the RDEK will keep the office closed for the remainder of the day and will reopen for regular hours on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.
The RDEK is working with WorkSafe BC to determine the cause.
