Fire in manhole leaves thousands of Hydro-Québec customers without power

electrical workers in montreal

subscribe

MONTREAL -

Hydro-Québec says a power outage affecting Montreal is connected to an underground explosion and a fire in a manhole in Rosemont—La Petite–Patrie. 

The fire started in underground pipes belonging to Hydro-Québec on Bélanger Street between Boyer and Saint-André streets, according to Montreal firefighters, who arrived on the scene at 12:18 p.m.

The electricity had to be cut so that firefighters could get into the manhole where the equipment was located.

At the peak of the shutdown, nearly 41,000 customers were without power.  As of 7:00 p.m., 10,981 clients still had no power.

Hydro-Québec spokesperson Louis-Olivier Batty said the utility is being strategic about how it restores power. 

Because of the cold, it anticipates that people will crank up the heat as soon as they get their electricity back, and that could trigger an overload somewhere else on the network, Batty said.

The Metro's Blue line was down much of the afternoon, but the STM announced the line was back up and running just after 4:30 p.m.

Bélanger Street was blocked to traffic much of the afternoon, however, it has now been reopened.

Batty said once the smoke clears, Hydro-Québec workers will take a look at the equipment to see what failed. 

Related News

broken power lines

Canadian Scientists say power utilities need to adapt to climate change

TORONTO - The increasing intensity of storms that lead to massive power outages highlights the need for Canada’s electrical utilities to be more robust and innovative, climate change scientists say.

“We need to plan to be more resilient in the face of the increasing chances of these events occurring,” University of New Brunswick climate change scientist Louise Comeau said in a recent interview.

The East Coast was walloped this week by the third storm in as many days, with high winds toppling trees and even part of a Halifax church steeple. Nova Scotia Power says it has weathered nine storm days so…

READ MORE
alberta-leads-the-way-in-agrivoltaics

Alberta Leads the Way in Agrivoltaics

READ MORE

japanese wind farm

Japanese utilities buy into vast offshore wind farm in UK

READ MORE

southern-california-edison-faces-lawsuits-over-role-in-california-wildfires

Southern California Edison Faces Lawsuits Over Role in California Wildfires

READ MORE

wisconsin renewables

To Limit Climate Change, Scientists Try To Improve Solar And Wind Power

READ MORE