Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township Councillor Brad Langstaff wants to know what it cost for the fire department to help fight an ethanol plant fire in Chatham.

Sept. 16, 15 firefighters, the township’s two tower trucks and its drone headed to Chatham to help battle a massive fire at Greenfield Global. St. Clair was called on because it has the equipment to deal with large industrial fires because of its proximity to the petrochemical industry. Emergency responders from Borouge International (formerly NOVA) also went to help.

The tower trucks were used to suppress a large fire in the ethanol storage tank. The department also used its drones to provide real-time information for firefighters on the ground.

While the relief effort was massive, no one was injured.

Since the fire, Langstaff has been getting questions about how much it will cost St. Clair Township taxpayers.

“We’re going to receive a lot of questions about this over the next little while. Are we going to see a subsequent report with the actual dollars that get billed out to this project?” Langstaff asked Fire Chief Richard Boyes at a council meeting Oct. 19.

“Do you recommend that we send both towers outside of the municipality for a firefight of some of the sorts?”

Boyes says while St. Clair doesn’t have a signed mutual aid agreement, the department responded under a provincial mutual aid mandate.

The chief says the final costs are being tallied and will be sent to Chatham for payment, likely by Greenfield Global’s insurance company.

“When I was at the call there, I spoke to the chief specifically about additional costs that were coming and was given the approval,” says Boyes.

“We intended to take one truck, then we had special circumstances, so we wound up with two and had to kind of change plans in mid midstream,” he said.

“From what I understand, we may be the only fire department that has tackled a 96 per cent pure alcohol fire, possibly in the world, to do with that.” Boyes added, “we had a contingency plan in place should something happen here at home.”

Langstaff wants the township to be properly compensated.

“We do have … some of the best equipment in North America, so we should be paid for accordingly, considering our taxpayers for the most part and industry paid for it,” he said.

Boyes added council will receive a full report on the cost after a meeting Thursday which will determine exactly how much the company will owe.