Edmonton International Airport Scare Cause for Concern

November 16, 2003

Airport Scare Cause for Concern
Edmonton Sun, Canada


Edmonton International Airport's emergency response plan has been called
into question after a bogus chemical spill tied up city ambulances for
more than an hour.

Edmonton's emergency response department was asked to transfer three
patients to Edmonton from Leduc Hospital Friday night amid reports that
airport workers were exposed to a mysterious chemical.

But city emergency crews said they had no idea what the patients had been
exposed to; whether they had been "decontaminated" according to standard
procedures; and whether any other airport staff or passengers were
affected.

"The airport has procedures that they follow. What we wanted to know was
did they follow them?" said emergency response department Capt. Darrell
Payne. "If we had a major incident at the International Airport, we would
have to interface with them. But the system we are running by and the
system they are running by aren't the same."

Contacted late last night, Payne said he believes the scare was sparked by
a water sample found in a plane's cargo that was possibly contaminated
with arsenic.

But RCMP Cpl. Benoit Guay, who helped to co-ordinate the response plan at
the airport Friday night, said the problem was in fact the odour given off
by de-icing fluid sprayed on the exterior of the plane. The patients were
only admitted to hospital as a precaution and they were later released,
said airport officials.

Payne said city emergency staff were led to believe Friday night that all
three patients had been transferred to Leduc Hospital by Associated
Ambulance.

In fact, two admitted themselves to hospital after feeling unwell, which
is why there was so much confusion about how they had been treated, he
said.

Payne said ERD officials plan to discuss the incident with airport staff
this week.

"We weren't too happy with the airport because when they transported the
first patient, we would have hoped a full report would have gone with the
patient," said Payne.

"The concern this raises is the interface between us and them."

Edmonton Airports spokesman Traci Bednard said airport staff followed all
the necessary procedures immediately after the scare.

"We've never had a concern like this raised to us," she said.

"The RCMP certainly didn't have any concerns with our response."
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