Fire and smoke blamed for three of four power outages
Stanton sees more people with smoke-related breathing issues
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 25, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Forest fires in the NWT are now the suspected cause of three of the four power outages in Yellowknife so far this week.
An aerial view of a forest fire near the high-voltage power transmission line between Behchoko and the Snare hydroelectric plant. The fire is being blamed for three power outages in Yellowknife, Dettah and Behchoko. A transmission tower can just be made out amidst the smoke in the middle of the photo. - photo courtesy Northwest Territories Power Corporation |
Because of that, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) has appealed to Yellowknife residents and businesses to immediately reduce the amount of electricity they are using.
Two of the blackouts happened Tuesday afternoon, another Wednesday afternoon and a fourth on Thursday afternoon.
Forest fires were not to blame for Thursday's outage.
Most people got their power back in half an hour or less in all the blackouts.
NTPC spokesperson Pam Coulter said forest fires below the main transmission lines between the city and the Snare hydroelectric plant likely caused the blackouts.
"We don't believe the lines actually burned, but smoke and fire below the lines can cause them to short out," said Coulter. "We're not entirely sure of the cause just yet because we can't get to either trouble spot because of the fires.
"We've surveyed the area from a helicopter but it's still too dangerous to put repair crews on the ground."
She said worker safety is the top concern for NTPC, adding they won't put workers in dangerous situations, including near forest fires.
She said the damaged line has been re-energized, but could go down again.
"Recent lightning strikes have also damaged generators at the Jackfish plant," said Coulter.
She said that means if the Snare line goes down again, power generation may near its capacity.
"We're asking people to barbecue instead of using the stove and try to hold off using dishwashers, washing machines and dryers for the time being," said Coulter.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) said Thursday that there are now 209 fires burning in the NWT - 97 of those are in the North Slave Region.
Smoke is expected to remain an issue in Yellowknife for at least the next couple of days.
Judy McLinton, spokesperson for ENR, said conditions are to remain hot and dry and the fire danger remains extreme.
"There's no rain in the forecast, but yet we're expecting more lightning strikes," said McLinton.
She said firefighters are giving priority to the fires that caused the power outages. Crews were working on their next course of action Thursday afternoon.
She said firefighters are making good progress on what's known as the Birch Creek fire complex.
| "Number of people with breathing problems increasing" |
It's centered about 80 km south of Behchoko and is causing the constant closing and reopening of Highway 3 between Behchoko and Fort Providence.
McLinton added that crews are focusing on assets in the Fort Providence area.
Crews continue to battle a fire in the Reid Lake area, about 100 km east of Yellowknife on the Ingraham Trail.
McLinton said the containment line on the northwest side of the fire, toward Reid Lake and the Ingraham Trail, is holding.
The plan Thursday was to conduct a burnout to protect properties and assets in the Hearne Lake area.
McLinton said another burnout is planned for Friday to protect properties and assets at risk in the Campbell Lake area.
Dr. David Pontin said there has been an increase in the number of people coming in with breathing problems.
"Normally, about one in 10 people coming to emerge this time of year would have respiratory problems; but over the last six weeks, I'd say that number has risen to about one in five," said Pontin.
"It's pretty much the usual suspects. People with asthma, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, folks with diabetes, smokers and the elderly. Those are the people we've seen more of for the past month or so."
Pontin said that about 10 per cent of people coming to the emergency room with breathing problems are admitted.
"If they don't respond to medicine in four hours or so in the emergency room then we admit them.
Most of those people are elderly," said Pontin.
"I've been in the North since 2006 and this is the worst season I've seen for people adversely affected by forest fire smoke. But it's still very minor compared to what we see during flu season. We're coping just fine.
"We haven't had to added emergency room staff and our usual protocols have remained in place."
He said it's still far from an emergency or an epidemic situation.
Pontin agreed with Dr. Andre Corriveau, the NWT's chief public health officer, that healthy people are not at risk.
Corriveau's message has remained constant throughout the bad forest fire season.
"Everyone should limit their strenuous activity outside when it's smoky, but people with respiratory and heart problems should be very careful. They should avoid the smoke when possible, keep their windows closed and use an air filter in their homes," said Corriveau. "There should be no long-term adverse heath effects to anyone from this smoke. It's not like Beijing, China, where the air pollution often means people can't even see the sun in the middle of the day.
"That air quality there can have lasting health effects."
Thick, heavy smoke from forest fires forced the temporary closure this week of the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission office (WSCC) downtown.
Dave Grundy, WSCC president and CEO, said he was following the safety act when he sent dozens of workers home and closed the office Monday afternoon due to the smoke.
"The employer has a responsibility to ensure the work environment is healthy and safe," said Grundy. "Because of the smoke in our building, I made the decision that the workplace wasn't safe and sent everyone home for the afternoon. That included myself,"
He said there is normally about 100 employees at the office, but added several were on vacation at the time.
Grundy said there are no smoke filters in the air filtration system in the downtown office building which houses the WSCC.
"Employees could see smoke, they could smell smoke. Some of them were coughing, others had nasal issues," said Grundy.
Some members of the public have pointed out that the workers would've been no better off outside or in their homes.
Grundy said he can't control what happens outside the workplace but he can control the inside and that's why he made the decision he did.
"I have a moral obligation to keep the workers healthy at all times, but my main concern has to be my obligations under the act and their safety while at work.
"We had no way to clear the building of smoke, so again I made a judgment call and that's what all employers have to do."
Grundy said phone calls to WSCC Monday afternoon were forwarded to the Iqaluit office.
"I'm confident that no one was left without WSCC services that afternoon. The only issue might have been the two-hour time zone change," said Grundy
He said each employers have to view the situation on a case-by-case basis.
"The offices were clear of smoke the next day so all the employees returned first thing Tuesday morning."
Judy Kainz, chief safety officer at WSCC, said they've received several calls over the past few weeks from employees concerned about smoky workplaces. She said they advise workers to tell their employers about their concerns.
"They can always refuse to work if they feel the environment is unhealthy or unsafe. If they feel the employer hasn't done enough to make it safe or the employer threatens to withhold pay from an employee who stops working due to what they believe is an unhealthy environment, then they can call us and we would investigate," said Kainz.
"We always encourage workers and bosses to try to get things worked out on their own."
She said WSCC has a safety officer visiting several of the firefighting camps, making sure workers on the front lines battling the forest fires are also safe.
"We've had no major health or safety issues with those firefighters."
