The Lakeland Mills Coroner’s Inquest resumes today at the Prince George court house.
With members of the fire department taking the stand, the City of Prince George opened proceedings with an application to become full participant in the inquest.
But Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe declined the application citing the city’s disinterest previous weeks 19 witnesses and proceedings, as well as the nominal impact any result will have on the city.
The courtroom was showed a 2009 information video from the American Chemical Safety Board outlining the explosive hazards of combustible dust. The video and several NFPA regulations were created in response to more than 200 industrial dust explosions across America since the 70s.
Unfortunately that information never made it north and Prince George fire prevention inspector Captain Steve Feeney testified he wasn’t aware of the explosive risk of dust until the Lake Babine tragedy in 2012.
The inquest heard that Lakeland Mills did not have a fire safety plan in place despite being ordered to create one during multiple inspections by Feeney, but he testified that he didn’t really have the ability to shut down a workplace for minor fire code infractions such as that.
Since the Lakeland explosion, Captain Feeney says he has attended two seminars, one put on by WorkSafe on the hazards of combustible dust.
The inquest will run the length of March.