An example of a fire-damaged structure seen during an aerial survey of a Manitoba Hydro transmission line in Leaf Rapids.
Manitobans can now track Manitoba Hydro’s progress restoring power to communities affected by wildfires on the corporation’s website.
The utility is providing daily updates on the number of customers without power due to wildfires in each community; the number of structures known to be damaged or destroyed; the cumulative number of structures repaired or replaced so far; and the estimated date power will be restored, where known.
Visit the wildfire outage response dashboard.
“We appreciate the difficulty and stress being faced by the many families and communities affected by these wildfires, which includes going without electricity for extended periods,” said Manitoba Hydro President and CEO Allan Danroth.
“Manitoba Hydro crews have already made considerable progress repairing the significant amount of our infrastructure damaged in this wildfire crisis. But we are just getting access to some hard-to-reach areas and finding more damage as we enter those locations. Also, some fires are still burning, impeding restoration efforts.
“The timelines are fluid, but crews are working to restore power as soon as possible, without compromising safety,” Danroth said.
In some places access is so difficult, crews and equipment must be delivered by helicopter. In rocky terrain, poles may need to be set in holes bored 1.5 metres into the rock.
As more damaged areas become accessible, the utility is mobilizing more crews and activating more resources to make repairs. For example, a new 40-person camp has been established at Leaf Rapids, fully equipped to allow crews to stay onsite, close to the damaged area.
Manitoba Hydro is also receiving assistance from mutual aid partner SaskPower, which will provide two additional tracked vehicles and crews to assist with restoration efforts in difficult terrain.
The utility is also bringing on additional contractors to help bolster the restoration effort. In all, hundreds of personnel will be working across the north to repair the damage caused by the worst wildfire season in the last 30 years.
For more information, please contact:
Peter Chura, Media Relations Officer
431-323-4511
pchura@hydro.mb.ca
