Pipelines secured as wildfires rage in western Canada (updated)
12/07/2017 19:29
(Adds comment from Kinder Morgan, details on fire, background)
By Ethan Lou
CALGARY, Alberta, July 12 (Reuters) - Major pipeline
companies in western Canada have created fire breaks, installed
sprinklers and taken other measures to protect operations as
raging wildfires spread to more than 38,000 hectares (93,000
acres) in British Columbia.
Enbridge Inc ENB.TO has taken a natural gas compressor
station offline but it said on Wednesday that there had been no
significant reduction in volumes shipped.
The fires have disrupted timber and mining operations,
damaged a regional electric utility and forced more than 14,000
people from their homes in the interior of the province.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1K112N
On Friday, British Columbia declared its first state of
emergency since 2003.
Enbridge did not specify which pipeline system the station
was on, saying only that it was in the affected area, a region
ranging from 150 km (95 miles) to 350 km northeast of Vancouver
where more than 200 fires were burning.
Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's KML.TO Trans Mountain pipeline,
a unit of Kinder Morgan Inc KMI.N , removed vegetation along
the line, created a fire break and added sprinklers to keep the
area wet, Chief Operating Officer Hugh Harden said in a
statement.
EnGold Mines Ltd EGM.V has suspended all exploration in
the region and Imperial Metals Corp III.TO said it had
significantly reduced operations at one of its mines.
West Fraser Timber Co WFT.TO and privately held Tolko,
among the largest Canadian producers of forestry products, and
Norbord Inc, the world's largest maker of oriented strand board,
a plywood-like material used in house building, have suspended
operations.
Disruptions are expected to tighten the supply of wood
products and raise prices. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1K214V
Some of the fires were close to residential communities, and
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that 10 people had been
arrested for breaking into buildings in areas that had been
evacuated.
In 2016, forest fires in Fort McMurray in neighboring
Alberta province displaced 88,000 people and burned 590,000
hectares.
(Reporting by Ethan Lou; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
((Ethan.Lou@thomsonreuters.com; +1-403-531-1634; Reuters
Messaging: ethan.lou.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: CANADA WILDFIRE/ENBRIDGE INC