Lheidli T'enneh First Nation Chief Dominic Frederick is raising alarm bells in the wake of the natural gas line explosion that forced evacuation of members living on the north side of the Fraser River.
Those who were forced out of their homes on Tuesday evening had to make their escape via a road Frederick said crosses over the very pipeline that suffered the blast.
Had the explosion set off a chain reaction, lives could have been lost, he said.
"We would've been pretty bad," Frederick said Friday. "We have no other way out of the community except that one road."
A boat had been put at the ready to carry people across the river, but about 70 to 80 people had to be evacuated.
Frederick said a bridge should be built across the river to connect the northern and southern halves of the reserve and added he said as much during a conference call with representatives of the federal and provincial governments.
"It's an important safety issue to us and we're here, we're not going anywhere and we'll always be here," he said.
He estimated the Fraser is about 400 metres across at its narrowest point on the reserve northeast of the city. While the project's cost would likely be in the millions, Frederick made note of the bridge across the Fraser at Hansard.
Opened in 2007, the 295-metre span cost $6.3 million and replaced a bridge cars and trains had to share. It serves a relatively small population, Frederick maintained.
He said industry, the city and regional district as well as the federal and provincial governments need to be brought together to deal with the issue.
"We want everybody at the table because they all claim to be our partners and we have done things in the past to support them," Frederick said. "Now it's their time to come forward and support us."
Frederick also said communication needs to be better if a similar incident breaks out in the future. He said developments in the situation were provided only at a moment's notice.
"Even the startup on the 30-inch pipe, it was on a moment's notice in the middle of the night," Frederick said. "Phoning me, telling me I should go knock on doors to let the community know that the pipe is going to be restarted - that kind of stuff is not acceptable after our people and our community have been traumatized by what just happened."
Meanwhile, Canfor was in the process Friday of restarting Northwood and PG Pulp under a gas restriction.
"We believe we'll be able to maintain operations if the allocated gas continues to flow," company spokesperson Michelle Ward said.
