SaskPower working ‘around the clock’ to restore power in Prince Albert region

It could be days until some people impacted by the wildfire near Prince Albert have power again.

Joel Cherry, a spokesperson with SaskPower, told the Brent Loucks Morning Show Wednesday around 8,000 customers are still without power.

Crews were able to restore power to 1,000 customers in the rural areas in and around Spruce Home and Christopher Lake within the last 24 hours.

Cherry explained SaskPower is conducting an aerial survey to get more of a handle on the extent of the damage in and around the blaze.

One question still remains, when crews will be able to get into the area.

“We have to wait for the situation to be safe to get in there,” he said. “If the damage is relatively minimal, limited to the 15 structures that we know about, it’s possible we can get the repairs done within a day or so. But if the damage is more extensive, it could take up to a couple of days …,” he said.

“We have one, major transmission line, in particular, that’s been affected by this fire. Currently, we’re aware of 15 power pole structures that are going to need replacement on that line. Some of them were damaged heavily, and some were burned right to the ground. It’s likely that more have been damaged.”

Over half a dozen communities near Prince Albert have been impacted by the outage.

We've restored power to some customers but the fire has limited our ability to restore power to most impacted customers. We're deploying all available resources for 24/7 work as soon as we're able to enter those areas. The ETR for those impacted is 1-3 days. #SkOutage pic.twitter.com/yiX0pYRivV

— SaskPower (@SaskPower) May 19, 2021

There is some concern about the condition of the conductor wire in the areas the fire swept through.

The vast area affected by the blaze stretches as north as Stanley Mission, according to Cherry.

In terms of an estimated time of restoration, SaskPower estimates a one to three-day wait. All in all, one aspect of the restoration falls with what happens with the conditions in the area.

“We are at the mercy of the weather, to some degree. Hopefully, we’ll get some moisture there, and some cooler temperatures would help,” he said.