Soaring flames from refinery burn-off sparks surge in calls to Burnaby fire department

A large flare during a scheduled burn-off at a refinery in Burnaby, B.C.,prompted a spike inemergency calls and 12 fire trucks to attendthe facility on Thursday night.

Burnaby Fire Department says every year it getsa few calls about burn-offs the process in which refineries get rid of excess oil by burning at the Parkland Refinery, but it got significantly more on Thursday.

The calls came from all parts of the city and led to a two-alarm response as rescue trucks were dispatched.

Assistant Fire Chief Darcy Robinson said the burn-off was unexpected in its size, but not dangerous in any way to the public.

WATCH | The burn-off illuminates the skies above Burnaby:

Burn-off at Burnaby's Parkland Refinery causes huge flare

3 years ago

Duration 0:28

A huge burn-off at the Parkland Refinery on Thursday night led to a two-alarm response as Burnaby residents from all corners of the city called emergency services. (Submitted by Robin Bunton)

"They just had a bigger burn-off than they expected," he said. "Something happened on their end with more fuel than they expected."

The surge of calls and the initially unknown location led to a rapid response, but firefighters did not have to tackle the flames in any way.

"Burnaby RCMP front-line members did attend the scene last night around 11:30 p.m. after seeing what appeared to be large flames at the Parkland Refinery," Burnaby RCMP said in a statement.

RCMP said the fire was planned and controlled.

"At approximately, 10:15 p.m. last [Thursday] night, we experienced an electrical power outage from an external source," said a spokesperson from Parkland. "This resulted in the shutdown of multiple parts of the refinery and an elevated flare."

RCMP said the flare did not result in a fire and no employees were harmed as a result.