All but 40 customers had furnaces relit early Wednesday morning after gas was knocked out Tuesday morning. PNG is reaching out to those last 40 who were not home Tuesday night.
At approximately 9:40 a.m., a gas line located on the west side of Smithers was hit by a third party excavator.
As a result, Pacific Northern Gas (PNG) has experienced an unplanned gas outage west of Smithers near Katelyn Creek. PNG technicians have isolated the damaged line and secured the area. AltaGas now says 335 customers were affected, including the airport.
Airport manager Ron Blackburn said the short-term gas outage should not have a big effect, as gas is not the only source of heat. The mild late fall temperature is also helping.
Construction crews were on scene Tuesday and repairing the pipeline. PNG technicians were on standby to conduct customer reactivations once the repairs are complete.
PNG started reactivations to Tuesday afternoon, and will have resources on-hand for relighting services at customer homes and businesses.
Customers with questions about the relighting can contact PNG customer service at: 1-800-663-1173.
