Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
The power is coming, and people need to be ready.
Critical infrastructure sites have had their power restored after the Chetamon wildfire impacted the powerline to Jasper. Now ATCO is moving on to figure out the rest of the town.
"We have put on the second phase of electrical restoration to bring additional load to the generator and power other parts of the community," said Amanda Mattern, general regional manager for ATCO during a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Part of that plan includes another outage. Those critical infrastructure sites will experience a brief loss of power at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. This is to help safely bring in that additional power load.
Afterward, those sites will swiftly come back online, and then ATCO will move toward lighting everyone else up.
ATCO continues to take direction from both Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper on the phased approach to help restore power.
"The process to do this safely can be challenging but the safety and well-being of everyone in the area is our first priority and an integral part of the process," Mattern said.
"If all goes as planned, we expect power restoration by late this evening. Once power has been established to homes and businesses, it is imperative that residents conserve their power. Generator power does not have the same reliability when powering from the Alberta grid. Brownouts and blackouts can happen. Conservation will dramatically reduce this."
She suggested that everyone turn off unnecessary lights, electrical appliances and any other device that consumes a lot of power. Don't charge your electric vehicles at this time, she said.
While an exact schedule for the full power-up couldn't be established, Mattern said that ATCO workers are striving to do so as quickly and as safely as possible.
People should pay attention to , as well as social media channels and websites for both the Municipality of Jasper and Parks Canada, for updates on the timing of the re-energization.
For power outage tips,听听and stay up to date on听听or download the听听for live updates.
Further updates on the wildfire can be found on听
Updates from the Municipality of Jasper听
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