A pole top fire knocked out power to much of the government and commercial district in downtown Thompson in the Mystery Lake Road, Thompson Drive North and Elizabeth Drive area Aug. 11, which is where City Hall, the Local 6166 Steelworkers union hall, Provincial Building and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 244 are all located.
Pole top fires can occur in wet conditions, such as the rain Thompson had last Wednesday, when electricity arcs across the top of a pole with a broken insulator, for example, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for Manitoba Hydro in Winnipeg.
Among the hardest hit without power for an hour or so was the Provincial Building, which houses various Manitoba government departments and several hundred employees. Power was restored there in about an hour.
Shortly before 4 p.m. there were still 111 residential customers without power, Peters said, but he expected their power to be back on by suppertime. However, a number of locations, including Riverview Restaurant on PR 391 experienced a second hour-long power outage around 5:30 p.m. - right at supper hour. Power was also out in places at least as far east as the multi-unit complex at 10 Yale in Eastwood. However, other business areas, such as Commercial Place, between Mystery Lake Road and Eastwood, were unaffected.
Peters said he had not been able to get an updated report from the field supervisor in Thompson on the second round of power outages.
