Power Outage in Fort Good Hope
A power outage occurred early Saturday morning in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., affecting seven customers. The outage began at 5:30 a.m. due to a suspected fire that damaged the distribution system.
In response to the situation, a warming shelter was established in the community hall to assist those impacted by the outage. The 2021 Statistics Canada census indicated that Fort Good Hope has a population of approximately 500 residents.
Additionally, the Victoria General Hospital experienced a significant power outage starting at 11:30 p.m. on Friday night. This outage lasted for about 11.5 hours, during which five critical care patients were transferred to the Halifax Infirmary.
The hospital’s backup generator failed to activate due to a problem with the transfer switch, leaving the facility without power until around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fortunately, no surgeries were in progress at the time of the outage.
Crews were able to restore power to the Victoria General Hospital by temporarily switching it to another breaker. However, scheduled surgeries at the hospital are currently being reviewed as a precautionary measure.
Doug Prendergast stated that crews will need to inspect powerlines before determining how long repairs might take. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health mentioned that contingency plans are in place should another outage occur while repairs are underway.
Details remain unconfirmed regarding the cause of the fire in Fort Good Hope and when the issue with the backup generator at the Victoria General Hospital will be resolved.
