Trans Mountain strives to be a leader in the area of emergency preparedness and response and we’re proud of the robust Emergency Management Program we have in place today. For close to 65 years, we’ve developed a comprehensive program and our emergency management team works hard to maintain and improve our plans, equipment and relationships through continuous improvement and exercises. 

We regularly practice our plans and conduct about 20 emergency management training sessions each year to train with local agencies and first responders that would be involved in an incident, such as local fire departments, to ensure we keep the communities we operate in prepared.

“It’s really important to have relationships with first responders across the pipeline, including the local fire departments. It helps us in response and it helps them to understand our operations,” says Kelly Malinoski, Manager of Emergency Management for Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML). “It’s important for fire departments to know who to phone if there is an emergency that could impact their community and they need to cross the pipeline. They get information from us on what it means to be safe around the pipeline and continue to keep their communities safe.”

KML conducted an emergency response exercise on the Fraser River in Hope, BC on July 11 and 12, 2017. The purpose of the drill was to confirm viable spill control points along the Coquihalla and Fraser Rivers and to refresh KML personnel on boom deployment and towing skills in a river environment. 

The Hope Fire Chief participated in the exercise and says ongoing communication and training is essential. “Relationships are important. It’s been important over the years that we’ve had this relationship with Kinder Morgan,” says Hope Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy. “We know what equipment and capabilities they have, and they know what we have. And, it goes both ways. It’s the ongoing training and working in concert that is exactly what we need for our community and as emergency responders. With a fire, an oil spill response or any kind of incident, you need to train and practice to be response ready.”

“Our relationship with the Hope Fire Department has been a strong one and we keep in regular communication,” says Malinoski. “Overall, it leads to better community resilience if we’re all talking. If I understand the concerns of Hope residents, I can make sure we’re addressing those concerns if we ever have an emergency in the area.” 

Safety is our number one priority and our goal is to have an industry-leading Emergency Management Program for incident prevention, response and recovery. A chance of a spill ever happening on our pipeline is very small, however, we’re prepared to respond quickly with detailed emergency procedures and trained professionals.