Speedway International did not have biofuel permit

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This article was published 20/11/2012 (4791 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The St. Boniface industrial business whose property combusted in a giant fireball in October 2012 is contradicting claims from the city that it did not have the proper permits to use biofuels.

Speedway International says it took all proper steps to inform the city it planned to add a biodiesel component to its facilities.

In 2008, Speedway submitted architectural and engineering drawings to the City of Winnipeg as part of a request to change its occupancy permit. The city responded by asking Speedway to make some alterations. It complied and then began its biodiesel operation.

“After filing the change in occupancy paperwork and making the required operational changes, Speedway International operated on the assumption that it had fulfilled its requirements with the city and province,” the company said in a news release.

The business went up in a $15-million conflagration in that forced hundreds of people to evacuate nearby homes.

Speedway was reacting to statements by the Winnipeg fire Paramedic Service that it did not have a permit to store biofuel.

“What triggers an inspection is a change in occupancy permit,” said spokeswoman Alissa Clark. “We didn’t know about any change.”

The company received a permit in 2000 to store windshield-wiper fluid in the warehouse, said Clark. An inspection was conducted in 2001, but no further inspections were made because the company did not inform the city it was storing biofuel, she said.

Provincial investigators pegged spontaneous combustion as the cause of the fire.

 

Archive video: Update on aftermath of Speedway International fire – October 2, 2012