Sault Police identify hazardous materials disposed at marina

The Sault Ste. Marie Police Service says the hazardous material disposed of at the marina on Wednesday was seven containers of ether that belonged to a local business.

The department received a call on Wednesday about the containers and the OPP’s Urban Search and Rescue/Chemical, Biological, Nuclear and Explosives Team (UCERT) was called to take the lead on the disposal.

“There was a company that contacted us that had this old chemical. It was outside of the scope of our team’s abilities and we contacted the OPP’s UCERT team and they came in and safely disposed of it,” said Insp. Derek Dewar of the Sault Police's Patrol Services.

The business had a legitimate use for the ether but had to dispose of it because it becomes more volatile with age, said Dewer.

“It has the potential of exploding, hence all of the precautions that we took,” he said.

The ether was being stored at a Queen Street business. The Pine Street Marina was chosen as the disposal site for a number of reasons.

“We just wanted a big open area. That parking lot was close to the building so we didn’t have to transport it a fair distance either, so it was safer to destroy that way,” said Dewer. “It was the closest, largest, safest area to do it.”

No physical injuries were sustained in the process of disposing of the containers of ether.

The operation took hours to complete because each of the seven containers had to be detonated one at a time in a specially designed hopper.

“There was a risk each time the substance was moved. They had to put it in the hopper, transport it there, take it out, put one in, render it safe, clean up and do the next one. That’s why it took so long,” said Dewer.

The business was not charged for the disposal, said Dewer, the operation was covered under the operational budget of the various police services involved.