An osprey carrying sticks sparked a power pole fire that knocked out electricity for the entire town of Peachland for five hours on Wednesday.
BC Hydro says the repairs were carried out as quickly as possible but some business leaders say the incident underscores the need for a second transmission line into the town of 5,300 people.
"We've been advocating for a second transmission line for years now, just as the town council has," said Patrick Van Minsel, manager of the chamber of commerce and a town councillor.
"This kind of event just shows we have to keep the pressure up on B.C. Hydro," Van Minsel said.
There are about 70 retail stores in Peachland, most of which closed during the five-hour outage, and a further 200 home-based businesses.
"I'm sure a lot of businesses aren't happy about having to close for such a long time," said Dave Collins, a past chamber president. "With things like COVID-19 and staff shortages, this is just one more thing they didn't need to deal with."
Peachland is at the end of the BC Hydro transmission line on the Westside, and there is no ability for the utility to tap into the FortisBC network further south when the main line into town is damaged.
The bird's nesting activities triggered a fire at the top of a pole, directly alongside Highway 97 between Buchanan Road and Drought Road, on the main feeder line down from West Kelowna at 10:34 a.m.
"The fire was right at the top of the pole, burning above the wires," Peachland Fire Chief Dennis Craig said.
Despite the fire, the line remained active until just after noon when the it was de-energized so utility crews could replace the power pole. Once the power was turned off, the fire was quickly put out, Craig said, and utility crews set about fixing the problem.
"In this case, the pole and associated electrical equipment had to be removed and replaced at the site. That is a small construction project," BC Hydro spokesperson Dag Sharman said.
"We have to arrange traffic control, source materials, remove the powerlines and equipment from the pole, remove the damaged pole, prepare the location for the installation of a new 55 foot pole, install the new pole, install new equipment on the pole, restring the wires, then ensure everything is safe and finally re-energize the line," Sharman said.
Asked why the utility couldn't have arranged a temporary solution and dealt with the bad pole later, so the outage might not have lasted five hours, Sharman said: "The quickest solution for our customers is to replace the damaged pole and equipment . . . Our crews did an excellent job restoring power as quickly as possible while prioritizing safety."
While work was underway, the two-lane section of Highway 97 on Drought Hill was restricted to one-lane alternating traffic. That resulted in long delays for north- and southbound drivers.
"Unfortunately, this particular fire was in the worst possible place," said Craig, the fire chief. "With only two highway lanes there, one of them had to be shut down to create a safe work space, and that caused traffic to back up a long way in both directions."
Power came on just after 5 p.m.
Hapless bird causes time to stand still in Peachland for five hours - The Daily Courier
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