A rodent may have bit off more than it could chew on Monday night.
The city’s fire and electrical crews were called to the 700 block of Hamilton Street after a power pole caught on fire.
“There was a high voltage cable failure,” said Pierre Gaudreault, manager of the city’s electrical utility. “That caused the power outage.”
The March 10 power outage affecting hundreds of residents living in highrises in the 600 and 700 blocks of Hamilton Street and several businesses along Sixth Street lasted about three hours, while residents of one building were without power for about 12 hours.
“We had to replace a cable that supplied electricity to 720 Hamilton St.,” Gaudreault said, noting the old cable had to be removed and replaced. “There is no quick fix.”
It’s believed a squirrel or rat may have sparked the power outage.
“We suspect a rodent got into the cable and started to chew on it. They find a little spot and tend to nest in there. Our suspicion is that is what happened,” Gaudreault said. “The cable was not that old.”
When rodents chew enough of the wire, the result is a “huge blast of heat”, which causes the fire, Gaudreault said.
New Westminster firefighters extinguished the fire to the power pole, and then electrical crews got to work repairing the damage and restoring power. No human injuries were reported and no traces of rodents were found at the scene.
