Burnaby firefighters spent much of Friday morning responding to a hazardous materials call at Toyo Pumps at 2853 Douglas Rd.
According to Burnaby assistant fire chief Mark Fletcher, 24 Burnaby firefighters, including members of their hazardous materials team, were on scene just after 9:30 a.m. at the light industrial complex near the corner of Norland Avenue and Douglas Road.
"There was a mercury spill when a gauge broke," said Fletcher. "It appears the spill occurred both inside the building and outside. ... We are treating this as a small hazardous materials incident. Everybody has gotten out safely and we believe nobody has been exposed."
Fletcher said he wasn't sure of the exact amount of mercury that was spilled, but he expected firefighters to spend at least two hours attending to the incident.
Members of the Burnaby hazardous materials team had been undergoing training at Eileen Dailly pool in North Burnaby when the Douglas Road call came.
Fletcher also advised Toyo employees that firefighters were able to contain the mercury spill.
Douglas Road was closed off to traffic while firefighters attended to the scene. Two B.C. ambulance paramedics were also on scene, although they were there mainly for precautionary reasons. Burnaby RCMP members were on scene as well, but they were mainly taking control of the traffic diversion.
Employees of Toyo Pumps were waiting outside the yellow police tape, but did not want to comment about what happened inside the building.
According to their corporate website, Toyo Pumps North America is a world leader in slurry pumping solutions, with their pumps being able to handle everything from dirty water to heavy oil slurries.
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