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FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John has a procedure when it comes to extended power outages, but implementing those plans is done on a case-by-case basis.
Energeticcity.ca contacted the city about its emergency plan following two power outages on February 20th that affected over 5,900 people and lasted several hours.
According to Ryan Harvey with the City of Fort St. John, extended power outages are a risk identified in the city’s emergency plan.
He said the city had done some planning to support widespread power outages, such as providing backup power to certain city facilities to use as warming centres if needed.
Implementing the plan depends on the situation, such as how long the power is expected to be out, how much of the city is without power and how cold it is outside.
The power first went out at 7:45 p.m. on February 20th after a vehicle crashed into a power line on 86th Street. Another outage occurred after 10 p.m.
BC Hydro initially expected to have the issue solved around midnight, but affected customers didn’t have power until 4 a.m.
“Even if we had opened up facilities, would people have come to them at two o’clock in the morning?” Harvey said.
“There are other factors as well. So it really is kind of a case-by-case, looking at the best way to implement those things if needed.”
Energeticcity.ca reached out to BC Hydro for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
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