House demolished because of wrong delivery address
CBC News
Posted: Nov 14, 2012 9:04 AM PT
Last Updated: Nov 14, 2012 11:44 AM PT
Some oil tanks are placed above ground like this one, and others are buried in the yards of houses. (CBC)
A home near Victoria had to be demolished after an oil company got its addresses mixed up and delivered a load of furnace oil to the wrong house.
Terry Phillips had recently bought the house on Adelaide Ave. in Saanich, just north of Victoria.
He was in the midst of renovating it when the oil company arrived and started pumping oil into the underground tank. But unfortunately the tank at his house was no longer in service.
"I had disconnected the oil tank and was getting 200 amp service in for electric heat," said Phillips.
"They got the wrong address. They filled up the tank. It went into the ground."
More than 300 litres of fuel spilled into the ground, contaminating the yard and under the house.
David Rogers, with B.C. Hazmat Management, the company doing the cleanup, said it was impossible to save the house because of the extent of the spill.
"Quite often we can dig under the house and support it with concrete. Because of the way it is, and the underground oil tank here, we could not support the house and save it."
The cost of the cleanup and rebuilding of the home is being covered by the oil company's insurance.
Share Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- Adrian Dix to stay on as B.C. NDP leader despite election loss
- Embattled B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix says he will stay on as head of the party despite last week's surprise election defeat. more »
- Wait time and primary care reforms stalled
- Shortening wait times for hip and knee replacements, increasing electronic health records and starting a national pharmacare strategy are stalled, according to a new progress report. more »
- Man stabbed in Vancouver
- Vancouver police are investigating after a man was stabbed in the city's Downtown Eastside on Wednesday night. more »
- B.C. teen saves dog from cougar
- A Belcarra, B.C. teenager and his beloved family dog are recovering tonight after surviving a vicious cougar attack on Tuesday night. more »
Must Watch
Top News Headlines
- Harper 'not consulted' about Duffy Senate expense repayment
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper says that not only did he not know about his chief of staff's "gift" to repay Senator Mike Duffy's expenses before the story broke in the media, he was not consulted and did not sign off on Nigel Wright's decision to write a personal cheque. more »
- 2 infants confirmed among dead of Oklahoma tornado
- Rescue workers raced to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of 10 children. more »
- 'You will see him again in heaven,' Sharlene Bosma tells daughter
- Sharlene Bosma told more than 1,000 people at the public memorial service for her slain husband, Tim Bosma, about the love they shared. more »
- Senators' Alfredsson on defeating Penguins: 'Probably not'
- The Pittsburgh Penguins scored four times in the third period and six unanswered goals in all to blow out the Ottawa Senators 7-3 and take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final series. more »
- Plumber's car explodes near Vancouver apartments
- B.C. teen saves dog from cougar
- Man stabbed in Vancouver
- Adrian Dix to stay on as B.C. NDP leader despite election loss
- 2 men found in Kalamalka Lake near Vernon, B.C.
- End solitary confinement, says former female inmate
- Greyhound bus caught going twice the speed limit in B.C.
- Former B.C. MLA Harold Long killed in plane crash
- Jumbo Glacier resort gets go-ahead for development
