On the afternoon of Thursday, the thirteenth, of January, 2022; Ottawa witnessed one of the most dangerous fires in the city’s history. If the city’s fire departments had not moved quickly and the wind had blown in the direction of the huge fuel tank farms only meters away, where millions of liters of gas, diesel, and jet fuel are stored; it could have been the most devastating fire in Canada in 2022. The fire-explosion happened at . . .

Eastway Tank, who built and repaired fuel trucks and tankers that deliver throughout the Ottawa Valley. If you heat your house with oil, it’s probably an oil truck that was built by Eastway Tank that delivers to your house. Most of the planes that depart from the Ottawa airport are fueled by tankers built by Eastway Tank. Many of the firetrucks used to protect our Ottawa Valley towns were built by “Almont fire truck”, a company that was owned by Eastway Tank.

So, what happened that led to this tragedy? Although this devastating fire is being investigated by police, fire Marshalls, forensics, engineers, and safety specialists; the six people who died in the fire-explosion would probably have more information about the tragedy than all the experts. It is well known that the vapor given off by fuels or paint is much easier to ignite than the liquid. That’s why when a smell of a gas leak is detected, people are evacuated for blocks around. In your propane barbeque, it is not the liquid, but the gas or vapor in the LPG that burns. Fuels like LPG and gasoline vaporize much quicker than diesel, furnace oil, or jet fuel. Older diesel farm tractors built in the fortys were started on gas and then switched over to diesel once the engine was running. In a diesel engine, compression alone makes the fuel burn. The compression is much higher in a diesel than a gas engine. For many years, only a carburetor was used to meter gas into a gas engine. Today most gas engines use injection to meter a fine mist of gas into the engine to be more efficient and use less gas. Older diesels used injectors with “cracking pressures” of only a couple thousand pounds. Todays efficient diesels use “cracking pressures” of many times those used in grandpa’s day. Breaking the fuel into finer droplets increases the fuel efficiency and makes engines easier to start in cold weather.

Static electricity is one of the largest fears of anyone working with gas. When I was a kid, I always wondered why the gas delivery truck always had a chain attached to the frame of the truck and the chain always dragged a couple links on the ground. Dad told me it was because of static which I thought only occurred on the old AM radio. It was when synthetic fiber was invented and used in carpet that I began to understand static electricity. If I shuffled my feet across the carpet and then touched a door knob, I received a shock. If I touched the cat’s ear after a trip across the carpet, he could be heard for some distance. On a lazy hot afternoon at school when the teacher was busy at the blackboard and the class was half asleep, if you rubbed your synthetic pants or shirt and then held your finger about a quarter inch above the ear of the girl in front of you, the snap of the electricity going from your finger to her ear could be heard by the teacher just about a second before the girl shouted and jumped. This usually resulted in a trip to the office for the culprit but well worth the break in an otherwise boring afternoon. I later in life learned that if I dragged a short chain from the frame of my combine, it would release the static from my combine and the dust would not stick to the windows as bad. I also discovered that a short chain dragging from the car would help to prevent the kids getting carsick because it released static electricity. Farmers that use a tractor to power an irrigation pump or a generator when the electricity quits, they should have a steel bar or chain attached to the tractor and the other end touching the ground to release static electricity which will cause tiny metal particles which are normally removed by the oil filter to stick to the bearings and destroy a engine in hours.

Please shut off your vehicle at the gas pumps, respect everywhere that gas or any other fuel is used or stored. Get every gas or fuel leak repaired ASAP, and pray every time you turn up the heat in your home, for the families of those who lost their life while building and repairing equipment that is necessary to your comfort every day.

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.

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