At around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday March 11, the Blatchford and Spruce Avenue area experienced a sudden loss of power, including NAIT’s main campus. Power was restored in buildings west of 106 street by 12:30 p.m., with all power returning at 2:30 p.m.
In the first moments of the outage, everything went dark. Elevators stopped working, food services rushed to get items into fridges powered by backup power and men’s volleyball players and fans waited impatiently outside the gym, where they had gathered for the first game in the men’s national tournament at 1 p.m.
Some students found ways around the interruption. Cindy Ou, a Respiratory Therapy student, told The Nugget her class was surprised, but kept on going. “We turned on our flashlights and then just continued.”
Not all courses were able to continue without power, though.
“Everyone was telling me the power was out … and then we get here and they’re blocking the door and our classes are cancelled,” says Tori Dempster, a student in the Culinary Arts program. “Today was supposed to be cake decorating day.”
At 1:49 p.m., NAIT informed students via email that afternoon classes in the CAT, W, Y, L and PIC buildings would be cancelled. The email also said that EPCOR was expected to restore power by 2:30 p.m.
EPCOR confirmed in an emailed statement that the outage was caused by a cable fault.
“Cable faults occur when the insulation of power cable deteriorates and can no longer contain the voltage, causing a short. This can be caused by a variety of factors, including moisture, grit, contamination, aging or third-party damage. Crews will coordinate the repair of the damaged cable” the statement said.
NAIT’s VP Students, International and Human Resources, Clayton Davis, thanks students and staff for their patience during the outage. “We recognize the inconvenience this outage caused and appreciate the cooperation of everyone involved as we worked to resolve the issue,” says an emailed statement.
Davis also thanked EPCOR for their “quick response and hard work to restore power safely and efficiently.”
Program reviews and events after 2:30 p.m. continued as planned. The men’s volleyball nationals also continued with a slight delay.
Feature image by Amy St. Amand
