Brodie Thomas
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 29, 2008

TUKTOYAKTUK - Some residents of Tuktoyaktuk were left without power for more than 24 hours after vandals damaged power lines in the community.

A second unrelated outage occurred several hours after power was restored. That outage only lasted for about 10 minutes.

NTPC spokesperson Vaughan Slade said the power company was first made aware of the outage around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21. At that time the company attempted to charter a plane with technicians to the community but bad weather prevented planes from landing that night.

A lineman and a technician finally made it to Tuktoyaktuk on Monday morning but they were unable to find the problem. It wasn't until more technicians were sent to Tuk in the afternoon that workers discovered the vandalism.

"Cracks and chips in the insulators combined with humid weather, caused the line to short out and an outage occurred," said Slade.

The power was restored to everyone in town by 5:30 p.m.

Slade wanted to remind everyone about the dangers of tampering with electrical lines and equipment.

"Vandalizing electrical equipment is illegal and it can be very dangerous. It can result in outages, injuries and even death," Slade said.

He said anyone who witnesses tampering or vandalism to power lines should contact NTPC or the police right away.

Elder Jim Raddi said the power outage made for an uncomfortable night in his house

"I had to stay up the whole night using a gas stove so I could keep heat in part of my house," said Raddi.

He said the stoves can give off fumes, especially in small, unventilated rooms.

He added he has a lot of experience in using them but he worried other people using similar stoves might be harmed by the fumes. He said he would like to see the housing corporations put wood stoves in some of the homes for back-up heat during power outages.