The developer who provided the illegal installation that exploded in Val-des-Sources last summer appeared this week before the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) to obtain an operating permit.
This process was able to learn a little more, on Tuesday, in the context of the accident and the impressive amount of propane that passed through the entire residential area.
The Régie du bâtiment du Québec opposes the request for a permit to store and distribute gas, made by Ideale Énergie Gaz Propane because, according to it, the Westbury company should never have supplied André Vachon with propane, which was illegally working to store and distribute it. business from his home, where an explosion injured one person and destroyed two houses in July 2022.
In the hearing held before the RBQ commissioner, the investigator Hélène Maheux came to summarize the evidence gathered during the investigation.
On the day of the explosion, a neighbor came to the propane tank filled by André Vachon’s wife, Hélène.
The customer said that there was a propane transfer operation outside the front garage, because Ms. Vachon had a problem with the connection that she had used and the explosion occurred.
During his interrogation shortly after the events, André Vachon allegedly admitted to running a propane business in rue Letendre since 2013 without the necessary residence permit.
Chief engineer and expert in the field of propane, Jacques Renaud testified on Tuesday that he found two tanks of 420 pounds, 24 tanks of 100 pounds, fifty 20 and 30 pounds and bottles of more than 100 pounds.
According to him, the place clearly shows signs of non-compliance, especially unsafe storage and cylinders that have passed over the years, and all this without observing the zoning.
André Vachon also told investigators that his company had supplied propane to the Festival des gourmands for 40 years and that every Friday for the past two years it had been refueling campers’ cylinders at the l’Oiseau bleu campground from its facility. of his son’s land in the rue du Roy.
In the summer of 2022, customers paid $20 for a carboy filling 20 pounds and $30 for 30 pounds.
By telephone through TVA Nouvelles on Tuesday, the owner of the camp and the mayor of Val-des-Sources, Hugues Grimard claimed that he was “unaware at the time that André Vachon was working without the necessary permission” and said that he was “very surprised” when he learned this information during these months.
Operational permit for André Vachon’s supplier, Idéale Énergie Gaz Propane, from 2019. After an investigation at the company’s office on September 8, documents seized by investigator Hélène Maheux were taken to say that between December 2017 and July 2022, Idéale would have invoiced André Vachon for 192,279 liters of propane.
During an investigator’s scrutiny by an attorney for Specimen Energy Gaz Propane, he confirmed that Westbury County had applied for a permit in January 2022, but the documents were missing. A new request was made on August 8, 2023 and that request is to be studied before the manager this week.
A second day of hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
