Fire at Co-op Refinery Complex extinguished quickly

An investigation is underway after a fire Monday at the Co-op Refinery Complex in north Regina.

Brad DeLorey, the director of communications and public affairs with the refinery, said the fire broke out on a platform in Section 1 — one of the refinery’s gasoline production units — at about 11:40 a.m.

(Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

The blaze was extinguished in less than 20 minutes by the refinery’s fire crews, although Regina Fire Department personnel were staged at one of the refinery’s gates in case they were needed.

“The safety systems that we have in place demonstrated today that they worked,” DeLorey said. “We never like to see an incident like this happen, but there was no threat to the community or to the public.”

DeLorey said the cause of the fire wasn’t known.

“We’re currently investigating that,” he said. “What we do know is that the fire was immediately contained and then all personnel were accounted for. There were no injuries involved and we will now begin the investigation on the cause.”

The refinery’s fire and safety crews and inspectors will handle the investigation, which DeLorey said could take a week to complete.

He didn’t know how much damage was caused by the blaze or what kind of an impact it will have on the refinery’s gasoline production. The refinery was still operating Monday afternoon.