Thousands in Penhold and the surrounding area were blacked out on Christmas Day after a power pole in the south end of town caught fire.
The blackout, which occurred at about 3:30 p.m., affected holiday celebrations for about 2,500 customers at Penhold and area homes, offices and businesses, and went as far north as Gasoline Alley, said town officials.
ìThe whole pole was really, really bright,î said Jim Pendergast, Penhold's fire chief. ìThere was fire and smoke coming from it.î
The outage was caused by salt and dirt contaminating the air brake on the line that normally helps feed power in different directions, a FortisAlberta spokesperson said.
ìUnfortunately it was a situation beyond our control,î said Jennifer MacGowan, the company's director of communications, adding the blackout lasted about two hours. ìWe recognize the frustration it would cause our customers.î
The electricity system is designed to shut off in the case of such failures before automatically trying to restart that portion of the power grid, Pendergast said, adding each time the flow of power was stopped the pole fire went out before starting again when it resumed.
At one point insulation even fell to the ground from inside the pole, he said.
ìWe blocked the roads off and made sure no one was around,î he explained. ìPower lines can come down.î
Firefighters monitored the situation and waited for a Fortis crew to arrive.
ìWe didn't want to put water on it,î he said. ìIt still might be energized. Water can conduct electricity right down to our firefighters.î
The fire department was also concerned by the thermometer, which didn't even rise to minus 20 that day, 15 degrees cooler than the monthly average.
ìThat day was so cold,î he said. ìOur first priority is to make sure everyone is safe.î
Pendergast said one family was trapped in their vehicle, which was running out of gas, because they couldn't get into their garage since their door opener operated electrically.
Once power was completely restored by about 5:30 p.m. by a full Fortis crew, firefighters confirmed the family was OK.
Usually power outages won't have such a lengthy affect on consumers, MacGowan said, noting Fortis simply switches to another line, something unavailable at the south Penhold location.
There was no physical damage to the pole, she said.
Rick Binnendyk, Penhold's chief administrative officer (CAO), said many area residents were anxious to discover why they couldn't finish cooking their turkeys.
ìI had candlelight Christmas dinner,î said Binnendyk, noting the power was out for three quarters of an hour at first. ìThe turkey wasn't ready yet. Then it went back on for awhile.î
The next outage lasted about 20 minutes, he said.
ìWe were dishing out to have supper at that point,î he said, adding the town's public works team fielded many calls from people in similar circumstances.
