Wildfires affect flow of electricity to Yellowknife, other communities

YELLOWKNIFE — Wildfires are affecting the flow of electricity to more than 20,000 people in Yellowknife and two other communities in the Northwest Territories.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation says there was a brief outage early Friday morning as fires burn near transmission lines and its Snare hydroelectricity facility.

The exact cause of the outage is under investigation.

Pam Coulter, a spokeswoman for the Crown corporation, says diesel generators and another backup system are now supplying power to the city and the communities of Behchoko and Dettah.

She says the fires are within a few kilometres of the power plant and crews are busy fighting the flames and clearing brush away from transmission lines.

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The wildfire danger for the Yellowknife region has ranged from extreme to high, with more hot, dry weather in the forecast.

“There continues to be fire activity in the vicinity of our transmission lines and Snare hydroelectric plant,” Coulter said Friday. “We will remain on diesel until we can safely re-energize the transmission lines.”

Coulter said it’s hoped customers will reduce their power consumption.

The Canadian Press