Firefighting Foam Stoney Creek
Last updated on July 11, 2024Disclaimer:
- Information provided is based on reports received by Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR)
- Information provided is considered to be current at the time of posting, but is subject to change
Incident description
| Incident Date | July 03, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Name | DGIR: 242598 |
| Source | Firefighting Foam |
| Nearest Community | Abbotsford, B.C |
| Spilled Content | Firefighting Foam |
| Who is involved | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV), Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR), Fraser Health Authority, First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), City of Abbotsford, Sumas First Nation, HEMBC, Sto:lo Resource Management Centre, First Nations Emergency Support Services (FNESS) and Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). |
Response phase details
The responsible person or spiller is legally required to clean-up or manage the clean-up of a spill.
In incidents where the responsible person is unknown, unable or unwilling to manage the cleanup, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) may assume the role.
The updates below reflect the ministry’s oversight of the spillers’ actions. Details describe the spill response phase only and not the complete lifecycle of the spill. Visit the 'More information' page for other reports.
Updates are in reverse chronological order with the most recent at the top.
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Most recent updates
July 11, 2024
On July 3rd, 2024 it was reported that a detergent-like substance was being released into Stoney Creek in the Abbotsford area. The detergent was reported to be foaming. Multiple calls were coming in on the same day reporting a significant amount of dead fish along Stoney Creek.
The source of the material was determined to be coming from the fire hall on Old Clayburn Road. The material was determined to be firefighting foam and toxic to aquatic life.
An assessment was completed and it was determined that the foam impacts will largely be confined to fish in the creek and those impacts will be acute in nature. The foam is not expected to have chronic impacts to the fish. The foam is also not expected to bioaccumulate in the environment.
The Responsible Person (RP) for the spill was determined to be the City of Abbotsford. The City of Abbotsford hired a Qualified Professional (QP).
Daily coordination calls were held between the City of Abbotsford, Fraser Health Authority, Health Emergency Management BC, FNHA, EMCR and impacted First Nations.
The coordination team determined that fish salvage was a priority action. To save the fish, the fish were captured from Stoney Creek and moved to nearby Clayburn Creek.
To recover the firefighting foam from Stoney Creek, a water treatment plant was set up. The Stoney Creek water was being diverted and treated.
To ensure the safety of the public the RP committed to hiring site security 24 hours a day.
As of July 8th, 1198 live fish had been captured and relocated to Clayburn Creek, and 1094 deceased fish had been removed from Stoney Creek.
To date 2.3 million liters of water have been treated since the start of the operation.