For many people, it’s their worst nightmare – to be awakened by a fire, in the dark, unsure of what to do, where to go or where safety might lie.
For Joan Gregory, though, it was a wakeup call on Sunday (March 17), one which left her feeling lucky to be alive.
At about 6:30 a.m., Gregory was awoken by a fire outside her home caused by a downed powerline at Fairholme Drive and 15th Street.
“It was a really terrifying experience,” she said. “Power lines were arcing, there were flames. It seemed the front of a house was burning. I got out of bed, got my son out of bed and called 911.”
When Gregory called 911, the dispatcher told her the fire had been called in by a Mountie headed to work. She asked the dispatcher if she should leave her home and was told to.
With the fire in front of her home, Gregory headed out the back door. “I was in a panic and didn’t want to touch anything. After falling on some ice, she tried to make her way through some trees onto Fairholme.
“A line was down and I thought anything it touched might have been energized. I was panicking.”
Gregory called Fortis for further information afterward, wondering what would have happened if she had touched anything or stepped somewhere she shouldn’t have.
“I found out from their website that the ground can be energized when a line is down and if you had your feet in two different places, you could get 4,000 volts (step and touch potential). Moving through some trees, it flashed in my mind not to touch them, but really, I couldn’t remember after if I stepped under, or over, a line. It was traumatic, there were so many inherent dangers in the situation.”
In the end, Gregory said, her message to area residents is they should be armed with information for situations such as she faced.
“The line arcing on the road was so hot it turned some pavement into glass. After, I wondered if it would have been better to stay in my house, but I just didn’t know. It was so intense and seemed to go on for a long time.
“This is the kind of thing you don’t think about until it happens. I consider myself quite lucky.”
Gregory said like many people, she’s heard the recommendation to be ready for 72 hours in case of an emergency. “But really,” she said, “something like this makes you realize how unprepared you are. How many people have an emergency bag that’s easy to grab?”
The fire was caused by a bird coming into contact with equipment on the FortisAlberta powerline, said Jennifer MacGowan, director of communications. The bird striking the line caused two conductors to burn through and fall to the ground.
According to MacGowan, people should stay seven metres away from a downed line for safety, “to reduce the risk of being electrocuted.”
Bird strikes do happen, she said, and whether in a car or home, short of it actually being on fire, it would be best to stay inside and call 911 so Fortis could dispatch crews to de-energize a line.
Fortis does have bird protection on powerlines in high-risk areas, but not on all equipment.
For more information on powerline safety, visit www.fortisalberta.com
