The outage affected the cities of Burns Lake, Granisle, Haida Gwaii, the Hazeltons, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Thornhill, Houston, Topley, Telkwa, Fraser Lake and Vanderhoof.
BC Hydro staff concluded that the fall of the tree was caused by a beaver due to the teeth marks on its base. That fall cut the two lines in a marshy area of difficult access, which delayed the reactivation of the service, and also caused a fire that was controlled by local firefighters from Topley, the closest town.
A BC Hydro employee said such incidents happen “from time to time.”
“It’s unusual, but it happens from time to time,” said Bob Gammer, a BC Hydro employee. “He wouldn’t be a rich man if he had a dime for every beaver outage, but every once in a while it happens.”
Beyond the problem of internet access, the fall of the tree complicated all urban life since no payment system was working either, so businesses were forced to ask for cash payments, including one of the few gas stations area.
The failure also affected mobile phone service, which uses the fiber optic network for data connections from phones in the area.
The area’s infrastructure provider, CityWest, confirmed that it is installing a second fiber optic line to connect the area with Vancouver; thus, there will be two connections for the area and new inconveniences of this type can be avoided.
Source: Ambito
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