City sues Hydro for civic complex explosion
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The City of Brandon is suing Manitoba Hydro for negligence following an explosion at the city’s Civic Services Complex nearly two years ago that sent one person to hospital.
The explosion happened on Sept. 7, 2023 in the complex’s mechanical room because of “overpressure” in the building’s natural gas system.
The Civic Services Complex at 900 Richmond Ave. East held the city’s bus fleet and some administration offices.
The City of Brandon Civic Services Complex on Richmond Avenue East in Brandon. The city has filed a lawsuit claiming that negligence by Manitoba Hydro caused an explosion in the building in 2023. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
Along with sending one city employee to hospital, the building and contents also sustained damage in the explosion. The building is currently being repaired at a cost of about $1 million.
The city, in a lawsuit filed in Winnipeg Court of King’s Bench on Aug. 27, said “the resulting damage was caused by the negligence of Manitoba Hydro.”
Centra Gas Manitoba Inc. — a subsidiary of Manitoba Hydro — is also listed as a defendant.
No statements of defence have been filed. The allegations haven’t been proven in court.
Two days before the explosion, Manitoba Hydro replaced a natural gas meter and told the city to remove a gas regulator as it wasn’t needed, according to the city’s statement of claim.
On the day of the explosion, Manitoba Hydro employees inspected the pipe work and instructed a city employee to repair a leak, which was done later in the day, the claim said.
An inspection then led Manitoba Hydro to approve natural gas to be reintroduced. A city employee “began purging” the natural gas line to the hot water boiler and reignited the boiler by “bleeding the line.”
While doing so, natural gas was released into the mechanical room due to the overpressure. The amount of natural gas “was sufficient to be ignited,” causing the explosion at around 6 p.m. The city said the gas regulator had previously converted 40 pounds per square inch of pressure to between 0.25 and 0.5 psi, “as required by the appliances in the building.”
The new meter delivered five psi directly to the appliances, the suit claims.
“The explosion was caused by the absence of an appropriate regulator, resulting in overpressure within the building’s natural gas system, and ignition,” the claim said.
Manitoba Hydro returned the gas regulator not long after the explosion. It also removed the new meter.
The city is seeking Manitoba Hydro to pay the costs of building repairs, building contents, Manitoba Hydro services, engineer services, and insurance adjuster and investigative services.
City spokesperson Merrilea Metcalf said city staff wouldn’t be able to speak on the matter and deferred comment to the city’s lawyer.
“As the matter is before the courts for determination, it would be inappropriate to comment on the case,” Metcalf wrote.
The city’s lawyer, Bernice Bowley, declined to comment on Thursday, citing the same reason.
Manitoba Hydro media relations officer Peter Chura said the Crown corporation is aware of the lawsuit and will respond “in due course.” He declined to comment further as it’s before the courts. No lawyer for Manitoba Hydro was listed in the court registry on Thursday.
In its statement of claim, the city also says undersized gas service lines contributed to the explosion.
This July, the city asked Manitoba Hydro to upgrade the natural gas meter to a larger meter to support a bigger natural gas load.
Last month, an engineer reviewed the request and found the existing steel gas service line installed by Manitoba Hydro in the 1990s was two inches in diameter, which is too small for the expected pressure load, the city claims.
The engineer said a four-inch-diameter line is needed.
“Based on the load of natural gas required for the building, it should have always been installed with a gas service line of four inches in diameter,” the claim reads. “Manitoba Hydro knew or ought to have known that the existing gas service line was never in compliance with applicable … codes.”
Metcalf also provided an update on construction work at the complex.
She said the city is working through final inspections and approvals, and the building should be ready for regular use sometime this fall.
“There’s a list of things that they have to meet to be able to move back into the building, and so they’re just working through all of those items,” Metcalf said.
Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett did not respond to a request for comment.
» alambert@brandonsun.com