Downtown residential buildings return to normal operations
Downtown residential buildings and businesses are returning to normal today, as ENMAX successfully restored power to the West end of the downtown core.
The area has been dealing with power outages, since Oct. 11, when an underground fire located at 8 Street and 5 Avenue SW resulted in power loss to about 1,900 metered customers in 112 residential and commercial buildings.
Power was restored at 5 a.m. this morning, and residents and businesses have begun moving back into their buildings as of 9:30 a.m.
The City, through its Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), coordinated multiple agencies and external partners to respond to the emergency situation. Among many, CEMA acknowledges significant contributions from ENMAX, Calgary Fire Department, Calgary Police Service, Alberta Health Services, Calgary Stampede Board, Shaw Communications, Calgary Building Operators & Managers Association, Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Roads, Customer Service & Communications, Community & Neighbourhood Services, Emergency Social Services, Information & Infrastructure Services and Inspection & Permit Services.
“What started as a fire in a manhole became a major utility upgrade, major road closures and an effort to ensure the public safety and housing for approximately 5,000 residents,” said Ken Uzeloc, CEMA Director. “The past five days, my colleagues at The City of Calgary and our partner agencies have worked night and day to ensure that Calgarians could get around our city and have access to support services they needed until their power was restored.”
Information for returning residents and businesses:
- Re-entry checklists for returning residents, building owners/managers and commercial businesses are available on Calgary.ca.
- For information on troubleshooting your telephone, cable TV or Internet service contact Shaw.
- Citizens who require any additional social assistance support should contact 2-1-1.
- Spoiled food items that are securely bagged to prevent leaks can be discarded in your facility’s usual garbage collection bin. If that bin is full, contact your property manager for bin removal or emptying. City of Calgary collection schedules are not affected, and regular pickup will occur according to your normal schedule. Should you have questions regarding private garbage collection service, please contact your property manager.
- Citizens or business owners/operators with concerns about their building should contact their building operator.
- Now that power has been restored, the Information Centre at Mewata Armoury will be closed at 9 p.m. this evening.
The City would also like to thank citizens and businesses who offered lodging, food, supplies to those residents displaced in the outage.
As a reminder, power outages can happen at any time. The City encourages residents to develop their own 72 hour emergency kit for such instances. A list of what should be included in a 72 Hour Emergency Kit is available at Calgary.ca/cema.
The City of Calgary’s Emergency Operations Centre has now returned to normal staffing but will continue to monitor the situation. The City of Calgary will not have a spokesperson available for comment this evening.
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