Six O'clock Burnout

FTLComm - Tisdale - Monday, August 13, 2001

At almost six o'clock exactly the electrical system for Northeastern Saskatchewan shut down. From Wadena to Hudson Bay, Melfort and West to Beatty TVs and air conditioners went silent for about forty-five minutes. The culprit was the little transformer on the ground in the middle of the picture above that turned into a little fire ball scorching the earth around it and lighting the nearby pole on fire. Saskpower responded to the problem, put out the fire and switched to backup.

The melt down of the little transformer is completely unrelated to the construction project now underway at the yard just North of Tisdale. A new switching and handling system is being installed as a new building is under construction. Electrical lines on the site will be managed underground rather than in the traditional overhead line system as the large pipes (seen below) will be installed to conduct the various high voltage lines from the lines to and from the switching systems.