Manitoba Hydro has planned a simulated natural gas emegency in St. Lazare on Wednesday, as a way to test their readiness for any real-world emergencies.
Wednesday's exercise is a simulated puncture of the Minell Pipeline, which supplies the majority of the Parkland's natural gas, including Dauphin. Peter Chura, Media Relations Officer with Manitoba Hydro, said the exercise will involve a lot of different organizations and groups.
"Most people are familiar with the gas line that goes into your house, this is a much bigger thing, it's a large gas line that carries the bulk natural gas from out of the province into our system, and then it's distributed into the Parkland region, including the City of Dauphin...there will be Manitoba Hydro staff of course responding, there could be first responders, fire departments for the area, in this case it'll be the area around St. Lazare and the RM of Ellice-Archie, and also the police of course, there could be Manitoba EMO, Shared Health Manitoba, there is a lot of moving parts," said Chura.
The main goal of the simulated emergency is to make sure everyone knows their role when responding to real-world emergencies. Manitoba Hydro is no stranger to emergency situations involving the Minell Pipeline. It was punctured by farm equipment in 2021, and a vehicle collision damaged above-ground infrastrucutre in 2019.
"This exercise will coordinate the response, make sure everybody knows what everybody else's needs are, and ensure that we can get the emergency taken care of safely, and service restored as quickly as possible...2019, the incident there was a vehicle actually collided with the above-ground infrastructure and caused a major leak, fortunately no fire or injuries there, and then in 2021 a piece of farm equipment punctured the line, the actual underground pipeline, so really what that does it shows what the 2 main possibilities are," said Chura.
If you're in the St. Lazare area on Wednesday and see flashing lights and sirens along Highway 41, there's no need to worry. The expected response to the simulated emergency may look chaotic, but Chura said it's all very controlled. In fact, the "puncture" of the line will just be a pole with a flag. With the rotating workforce of not just Manitoba Hydro but all parties involved with the exercise, it makes sure that everybody who could possible have a hand in a real emergency knows what to do.
"This will be in the St. Lazare area just off of Highway 41, and you may see emergency vehicles, hydro vehicles, people coming and going. Not to be alarmed, this is all part of the training exercise...there might be different staff involved, new employees, different parts of departments or agencies, so it just makes sure that everybody who's invovled currently knows all the procedures, knows how to communicate, and make sure that we can respond safetly and effectively," said Chura.
The federal regulator requires that Manitoba Hydro holds simulated emergency exercises at least every 3 years.
