Two people report minor injuries following explosion at Regina’s Co-op Refinery

Here's what we know so far after an apparent explosion and fire rocked the Regina Refinery before 5am this morning

Regina fire crews say there were no serious injuries and no structures were involved after reports of an explosion at Regina’s Co-op Refinery Complex.

According to Regina Fire and Protective Services, crews were dispatched to the refinery just before 5 a.m. Tuesday with crews remaining on “standby mode” throughout the morning while the refinery’s in-house fire team brought the situation under control.

Callers to CTV News reported hearing a loud boom around the same time, causing homes to shake and in some cases knocking pictures off their walls.

A Facebook post below courtesy of Dan Shier includes the sound that many residents heard Tuesday morning.

“Did anyone else hear a loud boom at 4:45 am? It woke me up and looks like my camera caught a bright light followed by a sound,” Shier said in the post.

Another resident in the Glencairn area said the sound was also a surprise to him and his wife.

“It was just sort of an echoing boom. I’m not really sure how to describe it,” shared Sean Louvel.

“We’ve had fireworks and things outside the house, noise, but I’ve never really heard that something like that. It was very odd and being woken up that early in that way, I just sort of assumed it was our imagination or something.”

While some people in the surrounding area heard the loud noise, others did not hear a sound.

Kyle Bochek, who lives with his sister Ashley near Dewdney Avenue and Park Street, told CTV News he only became aware of the reported explosion after his family notified him.

“I didn’t even find out until this morning until Ashley was like, ‘Did you hear that big bang last night?’ I was like, ‘No I didn’t hear anything, but I guess sleeping downstairs I just didn’t hear it,” Kyle said.

Ashley, however, said the loud noise disrupted her sleep.

“I was sound asleep then all of a sudden, I heard this big bang. My bed started shaking, the house was shaking,” she expressed.

“I got scared for a bit because I knew something had happened. It was just loud, then I heard trains constantly honking their horns. I’m not sure if that was totally connected, but then all of a sudden I heard sirens of cop cars, fire trucks and ambulances, right then and there I knew something was wrong.”

In a statement to CTV News, Federated Co-op said the refinery experienced a fire in a unit in Section Three around 4:45 a.m. Tuesday.

“At this time, we can report that all personnel are accounted for with two employees being assessed for minor injuries. The incident has been contained and the impacted area has been stabilized,” the statement said.

“We will provide more information as the investigation into the incident progresses.”

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Regina Fire’s Deputy Chief Gord Hewitt said their crews left the scene around 6:45 a.m. after they received reports of an explosion around 5 a.m.

“We responded basically in a support role. For the most part they (the Co-op Refinery) had the incident under control, we did have three units stage on scene and just kind of waited to provide support if needed,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt added that Regina fire’s services were not required at any point in time Tuesday morning.

“They had it contained and controlled and so our support wasn’t needed,” he said.

They will now be conducting an investigation.

“At this point time the fire and incident is going to be under investigation and we have our fire marshal or inspector heading out there to start working on the investigation,” Hewitt said.

More details from Regina Fire aren’t expected until the investigation is complete, according to Hewitt.

Unifor 594, which represents around 700 workers at the refinery complex, issued a thank you to first responders following the incident.

“A heartfelt thank you to the first responders who protected our workplace and community this morning,” the post read.

“We are grateful everyone is safe.”