Hydro One crews have rebuilt a 13-km stretch of 80 transmission poles destroyed on July 10 by a devastating forest fire in Northwestern Ontario, 90 km north of Ear Falls, and had power restored to customers in Pickle Lake and Cat Lake on July 16. Over 80 Hydro One lines staff and support personnel participated in the restoration work.
"We restored power to the rebuilt line section earlier than expected, following tremendous effort from Hydro One crews and from the Ministry of Natural Resource's fire suppression support, as well as support from the surrounding communities," said Gordon Caul, Distribution Superintendant for provincial lines in Northwestern Ontario.
Hydro One crews worked closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources to ensure the safety of all personnel.
On July 17 an outage occurred due to another forest fire. Approximately 55 staff were mobilized to make repairs and restore power to the communities of Pickle Lake, Slate Falls, Mishkeegogamang and Cat Lake safely and quickly. The work is ongoing to assess and determine the full extent of the damage caused by the second forest fire. At least 14 wood pole structures are known to be in need of replacement.
Hydro One will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources to coordinate our response activity.
