Saint John gardener worries about winter after AIM fallout leads to caution from province

Kim Fulton, a gardener in east Saint John, was wary after the fire at American Iron and Metal on the waterfront sent toxic clouds of smoke over the city.

Fulton said she has kidney disease and consuming any heavy metals or toxins could be deadly.

"When you're talking heavy metals and benzenes and things like that, they're toxic to everybody," said Fulton, who grows food in her own yard and at a community garden behind Bayside Middle School.

And the latest advice from the province makes it clear it's still not known whether eating vegetables grown in local gardens will be safe this winter or ever.

A release on Friday advised people in the Saint John area to wash and keep produce frozen until soil testing is complete  or, alternatively, to discard them with the regular garbage.

The fire at AIM's metal recycling plant on the west side broke out at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 14 and wasn't extinguished until 8 p.m on Sept. 15. Over nearly 40 hours, Saint John firefighters poured more than two million litres of water on the flames.

The fire also led to a city-wide shelter in place order.

The next day, the Saint John Emergency Measures Organization told people to throw away any above-ground produce from their gardens that may have been exposed, and that any below-ground produce that was not exposed would be considered "safe for consumption."

But gardeners were still left with questions about underground produce and the safety of the soil.

Fulton said she's "food poor" and all of her medications and vitamins have eaten further into her budget. So to lose a crop, when she already put $200 worth of seeds and seedlings into it, is not ideal.

In its release Friday, the Department of Health said a consultant has been hired to do soil testing on several community gardens in Saint John and surrounding areas.

The voluntary advisory also suggested people wash their hands thoroughly after handling crops or soil, and those who choose to compost garden crops or soil should keep them separate from existing compost for the time being.

In Fulton's home garden, she grows strawberries, onion chives, herbs, potatoes and tomatoes. 

At the community garden, one of the crops is asparagus, which is a four-year crop before first harvest. This year was supposed to be that harvest, she said. 

Some of the perennials at the garden were chopped off in hopes more information would come out indicating they could be saved, but other crops were immediately disposed of after the fire. 

Fulton said questions still run through her head. 

"How has this contaminated the ground soil?" she asked. "And how long is the contamination going to last? Is it going to be a year or two? Is it going to be decades? Is it going to be not again in our lifetime?

"All the work and money that was put into our community garden, are we literally going to have to just strip it clear, and then have to pay someone to remove the toxic stuff … and then start over from scratch? And if so, what kind of funding is there for the community gardens to recoup that?"

The Department of Health said there is no definitive timeline for the testing.

Amy Cleveland, a master gardener and horticulture technician who lives 20 minutes outside Saint John, said she thinks it's sad there's no timeline for the government testing because it might leave people not knowing what to do with their harvest until then or how to properly store it away from the good produce. 

She said if people choose to freeze their produce, they should label it so when they do get results about the soil testing, they know what food was harvested before and after the fire.

Cleveland said she lives farther from the fire's vicinity and her produce is grown in a greenhouse, so she felt comfortable harvesting and eating what she grew.

But she said if she lived anywhere closer, she wouldn't be eating them without first knowing what toxins and pollutants are in the soil.

Cleveland said for some gardeners, having to dispose of crops could be detrimental. 

"Especially with the rising cost of vegetables and produce, I do think it's bad for a lot of people," she said, adding that even if gardening is just a passion, home gardeners still put a lot of work into it.

The Health Department said soil sampling will be concentrated in the "plume area, which are the parts of the city that were most affected by smoke as the fire progressed and due to changes in wind and atmospheric conditions."

Cleveland said for those outside that area, she recommends independently getting soil testing done if they're financially able, or continuing to ask the government to get a wider area tested.

She also advised people fight to get their soil tested next spring and summer as well in case the toxins continue to break down in the soil.

Cleveland said she hopes AIM is held accountable for the effects of the fire, from "municipality costs of firefighters fighting the fire up to all the little small things like home gardeners losing their crop and maybe having to replace their whole entire soil."

The province has appointed a task force to investigate the AIM fire.