Large swaths of the southern end of the Boundary found themselves without power on Tuesday after a substation caught fire.
FortisBC detected the power outage around 6:50 a.m. and fire crews from Midway and Greenwood were called out to the substation in Midway, located at 800 Murray Street for a fire and power outage. Crews were able to quickly put the fire out and help deal with smouldering equipment while FortisBC personnel assessed the damage, stated company communications manager Nicole Brown.
Both transformers in the substation were burned, cutting off power delivery.
“The outage was from a fire that damaged equipment that was contained in the Midway substation,” she said. “The flames were put out early, but crews remained to address the smouldering and we were happy they could support us throughout the day. We had to make sure the situation was safe for our crews before we could go in there.”
Around 1,000 customers were affected, she said, but the company was able to quickly restore power to most of them. The company quickly reached out to customers FortisBC considered high-risk, such as people with medical equipment needing electricity, to ensure no lives were at risk, she said.
Because of the extent of the damage, repair personnel had to work out a few scenarios to bring power back on. They decided on a mobile transformer to deliver power, which meant power had to be intermittently cut as the unit was wired into the grid. This led to some power disruption for more customers, but it was necessary to safely install the transformer.
Photos from Midway Fire/Rescue and witnesses shared on social media showed black smoke and flames leaping from the structures in the substation. The fire cut power at the station, affecting four areas in the Kootenay Boundary/East West Boundary, according to an outage map from FortisBC.
People on social media reported widespread power outages in both Midway and Greenwood. However, City of Greenwood Public Works personnel were able to get back-up generators running to keep sewer and water systems running.
While the cause of the fire is under investigation, Brown said FortisBC will likely not announce publicly the cause of the fire. However, the company is working to monitor its equipment for signs of aging and wear and replacing it whenever it’s deemed necessary to minimize power disruptions, she added.