Fort St. John Hospital staff to do propane system maintenance with ‘flare stack’

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John Hospital’s parking options will be reduced for the rest of this week as workers burn off some propane.

According to a Facebook post from Northern Health on August 26th at 1:46 p.m., hospital staff are performing routine maintenance on its backup propane supply tank.

The multi-day process will see a temporary ‘flare stack’ — a combustion device used in industrial environments to burn off flammable gas — set up on the southern edge of the property.

According to Northern Health, the stack will be roughly 11 feet high, and may produce noticeable heat as it burns off the residual propane.

It’s not expected to have any effect on traffic flow, and a safe perimeter has been set up around the flare stack that doesn’t interfere with any of the nearby walking trails.

However, a small number of the hospital’s parking spaces will be temporarily blocked off.

The propane maintenance is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

This comes as the hospital experiences longer-than-usual wait times. To read more, click here.