FortisBC said tree hitting transmission line likely cause of Friday's outage
By Nelson Daily Staff
FortisBC said approximately 8000 customers were without power for a short period of time Friday night when a thunderstorm triggered an outage shortly after 8 p.m.
The outage affected many Nelson Hydro customers within city limits and surrounding areas.
“The cause of the outage was likely a tree hitting the transmission line,” Nicole Bogdanovic, Corporate Communications Advisor for FortisBC said Saturday.
“Customers may have heard a loud sound associated with the outage, and that is the sound that is made when high voltage electricity is abruptly interrupted.”
The outage occurred at about 8:20 p.m. Friday and Bogdanovic said power was restored to all customers at 9 p.m.
“We recognize the inconvenience to our customers and crews worked to restore power as quickly and safely as possible,’’ Bogdanovic explained.
“Crews patrolled the line to make sure there were no remaining hazards.
“In this case, we worked closely with Nelson Hydro and restored power to their system once they confirmed it’s was safe to do so,” Bogdanovic added.
Bogdanovic said with winter looming, this power outage provides a reminder for the public to update the family emergency kit.
These kids should include flashlights, a battery operated radio and fresh water on hand in an area that is easily accessible.
Bogdanovic also advises the public to remember to not ouch a downed power line and to report an outage, downed wires or poles, please call 1.866.436.7847.
