Probe launched into fire at Deep Panuke

1/22/2013

An investigation has been launched into an electrical fire that resulted in the evacuation of personnel from the Deep Panuke natural gas production platform off Nova Scotia on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for SBM Offshore, the platform operator, said the inquiry will include an examination of why the automatic fire suppression system failed to work.

Anne Guerin-Moens said firefighters still managed to quickly extinguish the small electrical fire.

She said the investigation will be carried out by the project's owner, EnCana, and Dutch-based SBM and there is no firm deadline yet for when its findings will be available.

Guerin-Moens said 46 people were temporarily evacuated from the platform, which is 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax, while firefighters extinguished the fire.

The offshore project had previously said it wants to produce natural gas by the middle of 2013, but Guerin-Moens said it's too early to know if the fire will cause production delays.

(Canadian Press)