From misfortune came the opportunity to examine a mass timber structure’s ability to withstand a series of extreme events, as the University’s cutting-edge laboratory was the closest exposure to a natural gas blast.

Prince George, B.C. – When an explosion rocked the University of Northern British Columbia’s Wood Innovation Research Laboratory (WIRL) one year ago, the first concerns were for safety and wellbeing, but the event became a rare opportunity to examine the resiliency of the mass timber structure in the aftermath.

WIRL is a centre for world-class research on wood mechanics and timber structures. Built in downtown Prince George in 2018 to the stringent international Passive House (Passivhaus) standard for energy efficiency, the University lab set a Canadian record for air tightness. 

Early on the morning of August 22, 2023, WIRL faced a test that none of its designers could have imagined. A large natural gas explosion razed the adjacent building, damaged numerous other structures and injured three people.

The pressure wave from the blast shook the building much like an earthquake. Debris punctured WIRL’s exterior cladding, allowing fire to enter the building. As it burned through the wall, the interior sprinkler system engaged and extinguished the flames, but the building was flooded. 

In the space of a couple of hours, the lab experienced the equivalents of an earthquake, fire and flood.

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