Power Line Damage from Wildfire Causes Outages in Yellowknife, NWT

August 4, 2016

On July 29, an out-of-control wildfire caused a city-wide power outage. The fire began in early July, and has consumed at least about 20,500 hectares. Repairs were expected to take about five days.

Similar outages occurred just two years ago when forest fires erupted between Yellowknife and the Snare hydro plant (2014 fire shown in photo).

As of August 2, 169 wildfires have been reported this season in the Northwest Territories, affecting about 182,282 hectares.

Just weeks ago, linemen were working around the clock in the Fort McMurray area 1600 km to the south, repairing wildfire damage in what has become Canada’s most costly disaster. The fire forced the evacuation of 90,000 people from Fort McMurray and the surrounding area, destroyed 2,400 homes, caused the shutdown of two key oilsands facilities, and burned almost 5,900 square kilometres of timber.

ATCO Electricity worked around the clock to restore power in the area. “Some of the transmission lines, we were able to fly over them with a helicopter, but when we got on the ground, we realized there was some damaged that we hadn’t been able to see from the air,” Chief Operating Officer Siegfried Keifer told local media early in the repair process. “Power poles are still standing but they’re badly charred and very weak so you have to be very cautious when approaching them.”

Although power was restored to 90% of the city in just over two weeks, rebuilding the destroyed homes could take up to two years.

Photo courtesy of Northwest Territories Power Corp.