FILE PHOTO - Pictured is an electrical substation in Penticton.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
Republished April 01, 2016 - 11:00 AM
Original Publication Date April 01, 2016 - 10:16 AM
POWER WAS OUT FOR 7,700
VERNON - A large power outage yesterday evening in the North Okanagan was caused by a man climbing on electrical equipment at a B.C. Hydro substation in Armstrong.
B.C. Hydro spokesperson Jennifer Walker-Larsen says a member of the public entered the substation yard on Smith Drive last night, March 31, and climbed on some equipment, which started a small fire.
RCMP say a 25-year-old man suffered significant burns and was taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
The substation is fenced and the man is not an employee, police say in a media release.
The outage cut power to just over 7,700 people in Armstrong, Spallumcheen, Vernon and Coldstream and was restored around midnight.
“I’d like to emphasize electricity is part of our daily lives and B.C. Hydro does have electrical equipment throughout neighbourhoods and communities all around the province,” Walker-Larsen says. “We’d ask people not to be complacent and not to forget electricity can be extremely dangerous.”
She says the fire was relatively small compared to what can happen at substations.
— This story was updated at 10:59 a.m., Friday, April 1, 2016 with information provided by RCMP.
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