Three Nanaimo community safety officers received medical care after coming into contact with possible exposure to an unknown substance while clearing a homeless encampment.
On Friday, April 17, three city workers were treated by Nanaimo Fire Rescue under hazmat protocol, before being transported to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for further observation. All three workers have returned to work.
Dave LaBerge, Nanaimo’s director public safety, said the three are believed to have come into contact with a substance while clearing out an encampment in the Bowen Park area.
“They were doing some wellness checks and they found what looked like weapons in the tent,” LaBerge said. “They withdrew and contacted the RCMP. RCMP came down and realized the firearms were actually airsoft replicas, but there were other prohibited items like edged weapons and brass knuckles that were actually seized.”
Following the clearing of the scene by the RCMP, LaBerge said the CSOs cleaned up the remaining items, including the tent, and threw it into the back of the truck.
“After the clean-up… They started experiencing symptoms that suggested possible exposure to an unknown substance,” he said. “Out of an abundance of caution, they went up to the public works yard and the ambulance and fire department came down and they administered medical and hazmat protocols.”
John MacKenzie, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief of operations, told the Bulletin that the firefighters set up a decontamination quarter and wore hazmat suits, decontaminating the workers with soap and water before sending them to the hospital by ambulance.
“It was undetermined what caused them to feel ill, but we do have our hazmat contractor coming to remove all the items from the city yard, which is where we have the truck that has been cordoned off, just to keep everybody safe,” MacKenzie said.
LaBerge said all officers were evaluated at NRGH and have since recovered.
“As far as the substance that is involved, the exposure is suspected to have likely been fentanyl, just based on the medical assessment, but we haven’t done any chemical testing to confirm — there is still some work ongoing with that,” LaBerge said. “The officers also found a considerable number of methadone bottles inside the tent.”
He added that the incident “shows the unpredictable nature of clearing these unauthorized encampments.”