If you heard an emergency siren coming from the North Shore Tuesday morning, don’t be alarmed — it was just a test.
Liquid chlorine producer Chemtrade, located on the North Vancouver waterfront near the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, conducted a test of its emergency system at 10 a.m. The company sent out a message before the alarm went off, to let people know it was a test and not a real emergency.
This is the same company that issued a false notification last November while doing a chemical release emergency drill.
First responders quickly jumped into action before Chemtrade clarified there was no actual emergency.
“As part of the internal safety exercise, an emergency alert was to be sent as part of the scenario, and unfortunately, the alert was sent to external recipients without proper labeling that the alert was part of an emergency drill, and not an actual incident at the facility. As a result, local emergency response organizations began to respond to what was believed to be an actual incident,” Chemtrade said on Nov. 1, 2023.
“The error was quickly identified, and a second alert was issued clarifying that there was no accidental release. Chemtrade notified North Shore Emergency Management and confirmed that the alert was sent in error.”
The company stressed there was no chemical release at its North Vancouver facility at the time, adding there was no risk to the public or surrounding area.
Chemtrade apologized to the community afterward, noting it is “focusing on notifying local stakeholders, First Nations, and the community to provide clarification that this was an unfortunate miscommunication.”