Big River Service Centre was among several Fort Providence homes and businesses without power, Aug. 20 after a vehicle collided with a power pole in the area.
Linda Croft, acting general manager of the gas station on Highway 1 near the Deh Cho Bridge, said the station — a key stop for fuel and rest on Highway 1 between Yellowknife and the Alberta border — would stay shut down until power could be restored.
“A contractor forgot to lower his truck bed and took out a power pole out and snapped the pole at about two thirds up the pole on one of our back roads in town,” she said, noting the truck was working in town and lowering gravel.
The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m.
Northern Utilities posted a statement on its Facebook page after the crash:
“Customers in Fort Providence, please be advised we’re currently experiencing an outage due to a semi-truck having struck our power pole,” reads the post. “Crews are onsite and safely responding. The outage will last approximately three hours.”
Croft said she hoped to see the power restored as soon as possible because northern travellers depend so much on the service centre gas station.
“Everything at the gas station runs on power…everything is shut down and we have emergency lighting taking place,” said Croft.
“I heard they will get power to some parts of the town, but since gas is so important, I hope it is one of the first ones if they can. I’ll then re-open as soon as they can.”