Saturday night power outage leaves over 7,000 without electricity

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Approximately 7,360 BC Hydro customers in Fort St. John and the area were without electricity Saturday night due to a power outage.

According to BC Hydro, the outages began around 9 p.m. and were caused by the storm and strong winds.

The strong winds resulted in fallen trees on powerlines in multiple areas.

Dag Sharman, with BC Hydro, said in events such as the one on Saturday, crews first need to determine the location of the problem and what needs to be done to restore power. 

They then need to source materials, work on the repairs and look for other trees on the powerlines.

When that work is complete, crews are required to patrol the line by walking or driving along it to ensure there isn’t a further problem on the line. 

Power can be restored once it is determined that the line is safe to re-energize.

Once the storm hit Fort St. John on July 22nd and the outages occurred, crews worked into the following morning to restore power.

For information on power outages across B.C., visit BC Hydro’s website.