Calgary, AB,
15
October
2014
|
19:04
America/Denver

Update: underground fire in the downtown core

This afternoon, Enmax announced they are working to restore power to buildings between 5 Street SW and 11 Street SW and 4 Avenue SW and 7 Avenue SW by 5 a.m. tomorrow, October 16, 2014. One hundred and twelve residential and commercial buildings have been without power since Saturday October 11th, when an underground fire damaged electrical and fibre optic cables.

Re-energization

Once power is restored, a wide range of activities will occur before everything is running as usual. Entry to buildings will be delayed while structures come back on-line and are checked. Buildings will be inspected for safety systems and parkade ventilation. Water systems will be powered up.

Then property managers of individual buildings will be able to determine when the buildings are running normally. They will work in conjunction with the appropriate City inspectors and personnel. Things like hot water may take some time.

When power is restored, it is very possible that the fire alarm may sound. If that occurs, in any building, please treat it as a real emergency and follow your building evacuation procedures. If there are multiple fire alarms, please be patient and continue to follow your building evacuation procedures in all instances.

Road Closures & the Morning Commute

The following road closures will continue until the work to re-energize the affected buildings has been completed and rebuilding of infrastructure completed:

  • One northbound lane closed on 8th Street between 5th Ave and 4th Ave SW
  • One northbound lane closed on 8th Street between 7th Ave and 6th Ave SW
  • Two northbound lanes closed on 8th Street between 6th Ave and 5th Ave SW (with two-way traffic in effect)

 

Residents in lodging

Impacted residents staying in a hotel that has been provided by The City will need to check out tomorrow morning according to hotel rules. A bus will be provided at each hotel at 9:30 a.m. , leaving at 9:45 a.m. to Mewata Armoury for people to check the status of the re-energizations and make their way back to work or home.

Please remember, this is a complicated process, with many people involved and many interdependencies. While we hope for the best, unexpected occurrences may mean that events do not go exactly as planned. If that does happen, trust that we are doing our best to get things back to normal. We will continue to communicate as new information becomes available. As always, your patience is appreciated.

Further information for impacted residents, businesses and building owners will be posted throughout this evening on calgary.ca.

 

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