An estimated 110,000 litres of crude oil were captured in a containment area at Kinder Morgan's oil storage facility on Sumas Mountain early Tuesday morning and mopped up later in the day, said a company spokesperson.

The only threat to residents was that of "nuisance odours," said Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Lexa Hobenshield on Tuesday.

The oil was covered with foam to suppress the odour and was then removed.

The leak was relatively small, less than one-quarter of one percent of Kinder Morgan's daily pipeline capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, she said.

Pipeline accidents are rare, she added, but the containment area built to contain such leaks "functioned exactly as it should," she said.

However, environmentalist Ben West of the Wilderness Committee said the spill at Kinder Morgan's Abbotsford facility on Lower Sumas Mountain Road should serve as a wake-up call about the risks associated with the oil transportation company's proposed expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline.

"This should be a reminder to people that there is a very serious risk of oil spills when you've got oil pipelines and oil tankers," West said Tuesday.

Local resident John Vissers noted the event may make Abbotsford residents nervous about Kinder Morgan's plans to double its pipeline, especially since there was a significant spill at the tank farm in 2005 that forced some people from their homes temporarily and threatened local streams.

"Even the best technology we have, and they assured us they have it, oil spills can still happen. These spills seem to be inevitable - we have to accept that," Vissers said.

On Tuesday, Auguston Traditional Elementary students were kept inside for most of the day because of the strong-smelling fumes. Some parents came to take their kids home, said school district spokesman Dave Stephen.

The principal also decided to limit outdoor air intake to reduce any odours inside the school, he said.

"Other than that, it's a normal day at the school," said Stephen.

The Auguston subdivision and school is about a kilometre from the Sumas terminal, which has several large storage tanks.

Serena Duckett, who lives on Auguston Parkway East, said her husband noticed the smell when he left for work at 9 a.m. She is uneasy about potential health, air quality or environmental issues associated with the spill.

"[The fumes] aren't something you want to breathe into your lungs or respiratory system," she said Tuesday. "I don't know how much is getting into the ground or if it's seeping into the water or sewer or all of the above.

"I'm concerned knowing it's just behind my house," she added. "I think we should have been told [about the spill]."

Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said his department began receiving calls of a strong oil or gas odour in the Auguston area at 4:30 a.m., and calls continued all day.

Police and fire crews went to the area at daybreak to find the source of the smell. The police eventually called Kinder Morgan and confirmed there had been an incident at the company's storage facility. MacDonald posted the information on Facebook and Twitter just after 11 a.m.

Hobenshield noted that Kinder Morgan follows an incident command system.

"As part of that, we notify agencies such as B.C. Ministry of Environment, the National Energy Board and federal Department of Environment. All of which were overseeing the incident yesterday. We did notify local key stakeholders, and worked both on our own and with the Auguston school to notify neighbors - as well as with the media," Hobenshield said Wednesday.

The incident is still under investigation, she said.

- With a file from Rochelle Baker and The Vancouver Sun

Ctoth@abbotsfordtimes.com