Officials have now identified a beaver as the cause of a June 7 outage which left many residents of northwestern B.C. without internet, landline and cellular service for more than eight hours.
The beaver gnawed its way through an aspen tree which then fell on both BC Hydro lines and a Telus fibre optics cable line strung along BC Hydro poles between Topley and Houston.
The resulting power outage affected just 21 customers but the fibre optics damage affected Telus customers in Houston, Burns Lake, Topley, Granisle, Smithers, Haida Gwaii, the Hazeltons, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Thornhill, Telkwa, Fraser Lake and Vanderhoof.
While some enjoyed the unconnected afternoon, the service outage created stress for others. Lack of service meant many businesses could only accept cash. Some businesses in Houston closed for the day but most stayed opened and made alternative methods for payment.
Mike Tran from Mike’s Audio said the store and customers made adjustments.
”Customers would just go to the bank and get cash and come back – we appreciated our customers’ patience,” he said.
Kayla Simmons of Mixer’s Bar said her staff coped and adapted through the outage period.
“It was an amusing, humble reminder to see exactly how dependent a community can be on something we’ve learned to take for granted in our everyday, every-second lives, she said.
“I am thankful we still have the capacity to sort ourselves out when the expected, unexpected occurs.”
Darrin Super, manager of BV Home Centre had similar expericnes saying, “The internet/cell phone outage created havoc. Our computer system relies on the internet which generate and tracks sales and transactions. Our debit/credit provider Moneris, was also inoperable so the only transactions we could male were by cash only unless the customer has a charge account which can be accessed once we were back online. With phone service being out, our phone system is with City West so requires internet in order to work) customers were unable to call our store. Let’s just say, the following day was a cakewalk when everything was back online.”
BC Hydro official Bob Gammer said crews identified a beaver as the culprit becauuse of chew marks at the bottom of the downed tree.
The lines are located in a swampy area and with the high water levels, there was some difficluty accessing the site, he added.
He said it is not uncommon for utilities to share pole space.
“It’s unusual, but it does happen every once in a while,” Gammer said of the beaver’s actions. “So I wouldn’t be a rich man if I had a nickel for every beaver outage, but they do happen.”
Hwy16 east of Houston was reduced to one-lane alternating traffic for most of the day.
The felled tree did result in a small fire which was responded to by members of the Topley Volunteer Fire Department.He said it is not uncommon for utilities to share pole space.
–With files from Kaitlyn Bailey
READ MORE: First 50 km of Connected Coast laid around Prince Rupert
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