Friday morning outage caused by truck hitting powerlines 

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A power outage occurred Friday morning after a tractor-trailer with a BC Hydro truck on the back hit some power lines.

Daniel Simpson, deputy fire chief at the Fort St. John Fire Department, said they received a call at 8:01 a.m. about a hydro down on 93rd Avenue.

The department sent an engine and four crew members to the scene. Once arriving at the scene, they discovered a tractor-trailer with a BC Hydro truck on the back had pulled out of the Stonebridge hotel and gotten tangled with the hydro line.

Mike Kellet with BC Hydro said crews are working on a plan and determining if a wider outage will be required to fix or replace the power pole. He said planning is expected to take an hour at maximum, and if further outage is required, it will not last long.

Affected customers will be notified if a wider outage is needed.

At this time, approximately 11 customers are still affected by the outage, but if a further outage is required, up to 2,000 residents could be affected.

The minor “blip” in power around 8 a.m. was caused by circuit reclosers, which Kellet said helped maintain the stability of the electrical system. When something contacts the wires, the circuit reclosers activate to see if it was only temporary contact or if actual damage occurred on the line.

The road is shut down while crews work in the area.