Reminds me of those old mini-xmas lights... when there's a problem with one, they all go out.
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Blackout forces some to climb 50 stories in the dark
OMAR EL AKKAD
The Globe and Mail
April 21, 2009
Residents of several condos near downtown Toronto's waterfront expressed frustration and anger yesterday after a power outage left thousands without power for much of the weekend.
The lights went out at several condos and an adjoining gymnasium near the Rogers Centre, some of them part of the massive Concord CityPlace development projects, shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday. The blackout, which lasted almost 24 hours in some buildings, forced some residents to spend the night in hotels or with family.
While some backup lights immediately switched on at the gym and other areas, there were none at all for several hours in at least one of the condo buildings.
With elevators shut down, residents in one tower climbed up to 50 stories in a pitch black emergency stairwell to get home, the only light coming from their cellphones and MP3 players. Because most of the emergency stairwell doors are locked - with the exception of the ground floor and about 10 cross-over floors - residents eventually began jamming junk mail into the locks to keep the doors wedged open for others.
Toronto Hydro crews were able to restore power to one of the towers at around 8 p.m. Saturday, and another tower just before 3 a.m. Sunday, according to Vanessa Nero, a Toronto Hydro spokeswoman.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, security at a third tower on Mariner Terrace advised residents that Toronto Hydro would be attempting to turn the power back on shortly. The problem wasn't fully fixed for more than 12 hours, with the electricity fully restored everywhere at around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Ms. Nero said the issue was not with the utility's lines, but with "customer-owned equipment." Although she would not say what that equipment is, she specified that Toronto Hydro's customer is the property manager.
"Work has to be done by the property manager of the building before we can resume power," she said. "It's a customer issue that they have to repair."
An engineer at one of the buildings early Sunday morning was overheard saying that flooding in one tower blew the fuses for several of the adjoining units.
However Daniel Barron, a property manager for several of the affected buildings, said the initial cause of the outage was a broken high-voltage line at one of the buildings, the cause of which is still unclear.
"The flooding was a co-incidence," he said. "A really horrible co-incidence."
In total, nine buildings suffered blackouts of varying lengths, from a couple of hours to almost a full day.
Several of the CityPlace towers are closely connected, sharing a sprawling underground garage.
"The problem is this: Why is it when something affects one building it affects all the buildings?" asked Gary Pieters, a resident in one of the affected towers. "That's a development flaw."
Mr. Pieters said he received very little communication about the nature and length of the blackout. Uncertain about his safety, he decided to spend the night at a hotel.
He recently went online, asking residents to give him their thoughts about what happened. He ended up getting dozens of angry responses.
"The communication, emergency preparedness and security in this community is totally absent," wrote one resident. "It is a blessing that no one was injured on the weekend."
