It’s over.
Hopefully, at least.
Cautious optimism surrounds the declaration by municipal officials that the Wheatley emergency is indeed done.
On the evening of Aug. 21, 2021, an explosion ripped through Wheatley’s downtown. It heavily damaged two buildings in the community’s core.
About 20 people were hurt in the blast. It could have been much worse had gas alarms not sounded 90 minutes earlier and allowed first responders to evacuate most of the immediate area.
The lingering damage from the gas leak is still being felt. Nearly a dozen buildings are gone and part of the area resembled an archaeological dig site at one point.
But, officials proudly state, it is over.
It took 38 months to reach this point. Finding the leaking well at 17 Talbot St. E. was a huge issue. However, since the encasement and capping of that well, gas monitoring equipment has not detected any hydrogen sulphide coming from the area.
That’s huge, as it had been continuously emitting the hydrogen sulphide and methane gas since monitoring first began in 2021.
Wheatley has suffered for more than three years in the wake of the blast. Businesses were shuttered for months. People were not allowed back into their homes.
To them, this was a massive disaster.
The municipality has spent millions dealing with this issue.
Good.
The provincial government stepped up big time in providing offsetting funding.
Better.
Helping the people of Wheatley to rebuild is not over, however. The municipality and the province must continue to assist.
The residents are an incredibly resilient bunch. Help is still needed for redevelopment. But let the people of Wheatley have a huge input on that redevelopment.
It’s their community; they suffered through this.
The Wheatley tragedy should serve as a warning to other communities across the province. There are an estimated 20,000 known gas wells in Ontario. God only knows how many others aren’t on record.
What Wheatley and its people endured should serve as a warning. It could happen again.
Municipalities and the province have to learn from what happened in Wheatley. Failing to do so could cost and/or devastate lives elsewhere in the future.
