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An underground explosion and fire on Saturday knocked out power to thousands of residents and a number of businesses in the downtown core and officials say it will be a few more days before it can be restored.
The blaze broke out in an underground vault inear 8 Avenue and 5 Street SW at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and smoke could be seen coming from manholes in the area. Power was shut down by ENMAX crews as a safety precaution so they could work on repairs.
The company’s CEO says of the 127 high voltage cables needing to be replaced, 79 have been completed with the rest to be done Tuesday morning.
Those cables then need to be spliced into the network; 15 per cent of that project has been completed.
ENMAX says the goal is to get everyone back on the grid at once by mid-Thursday.
They warn if the lights come back on beforehand, it could be generator power.
In terms of the investigation into what caused the blaze, officials haven’t made progress yet.
ENMAX says nothing like this has happened before in the City of Calgary, and it could be some time before they can pinpoint a cause.
Agencies/Canadajournal
