THUNDER BAY — Local residents perplexed by the number of short-term power outages in their neighbourhood recently can point the finger of blame at birds and animals.
Thunder Bay Hydro says there have been no issues with malfunctioning infrastructure.
Instead, one of the main causes of these short periods of power loss is animals making contact with overhead wires, which activates the utility's "auto-reclose" mechanisms.
"During nesting season, it is really something that happens a lot," said Hydro spokesperson Eileen Dias. "Things like birds learning to fly, and squirrels doing the jump."
When a bird, animal or tree touches a power line, Dias said, "A fuse will open. It will cut the power to allow that object to clear the line. Then the fuse will close, and the power's restored."
In cases where a line is still being interfered with, the fuse will open again to stop the power flow, and a hydro crew must be dispatched to the scene.
Dias said the system is necessary for public safety "because we don't know what's creating that grounding situation."
She said auto-reclose incidents are more likely to occur in treed areas, or areas where there's wildlife.
"I'm aware of somebody who is feeding a lot of wildlife and having a lot of problems with that," Dias noted.
Thunder Bay Hydro recently has received inquiries about these outages from customers, some of whom have told Tbnewswatch there have been multiple incidents in their neighbourhoods.
Dias agrees it can be very annoying to lose power.
"Because it doesn't matter whether it's seconds, minutes or two hours, you've gotta re-set different clocks and timers, which is really frustrating."
She added, however, that "electricity is something that can kill, and these safety mechanisms are there for a very good reason."
Hydro has posted information about auto-reclose incidents on its website.
