Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 4, 2008
YELLOWKNIFE - A Wednesday power outage that caused havoc with noon-time traffic had another victim: a backup generator at a Northwestel exchange building.
Firefighters were called to 4917 50 Street Wednesday afternoon, after reports of a fire in the building.
It serves as the central automated hub of Northwestel's phone and Internet services.
"People reported it as a fire but it was no fire at all," said deputy fire chief Darcy Hernblad.
Five firefighters and one truck answered the call, bringing a fire hose into the building to find smoke, but no fire, he said.
"We suspect it was a broken radiator hose that caused the smoke," said Anne Kennedy, director of corporate communications with Northwestel.
While no major damage to the building was reported, the generator did seize up.
The generator is vital to the city's telephone and data services, as it charges the exchange's battery grid when the power goes out.
Normally, the battery is charged with commercial power.
"That's why in the middle of a power outage you can still use your phone," Kennedy said, so long as it's a hard-wired landline phone.
There was no interruption in services, she said, as the batteries - which provide constant, steady power to delicate equipment - had enough juice for four hours of operation.
In that time, Northwestel brought in a temporary backup generator.
"There was no impact on telephone or data systems," she said, which include Interac and bank machines.
"That is as it should be."
As of yesterday, it was still unclear what caused the one-hour long outage, which began at approximately 12:50 p.m.
"The NWT Power Corporation's got a transmission line that runs up to Snare Lake to Jack Fish Lake. For unknown reasons, the line went out of service," said Jeff Barbutza, general manager of Northland Utilities, late Wednesday afternoon.
Barbutza said he didn't think the falling snow on Wednesday had anything to do with the disruption.
- with files from Guy Quenneville
