A van that hit a hydro pole near Skaha Ford on the Channel Parkway caused a major power outage and ammonia alarms to trip in several arenas in the west of the city Wednesday night.
At about 8:20 p.m. the Penticton Fire Department was called out almost simultaneously to the crash and an ammonia alarm at the Penticton Curling Club on Railway Street. Within minutes of arrival at the curling club the department found out about alarms going off nearby at the Memorial Arena and the South Okanagan Events Centre.
“It knocked out power to the whole west end. All the ammonia alarms started the same time as the power outage,” Penticton fire Cpt. Wes Swaren said at the scene of the crash.
He explained that the impact of the vehicle hitting the pole snapped the guide wires.
“The guide wires ended up on the transmission line and that tripped the power to go out to the whole grid,” he said.
Once electrical crews removed the guide wires from the line the power was restored to the grid.
The van also smashed into a brand new Ford truck ripping part of the back end of the passenger side off. In a domino effect, the truck then smashed into another pushing it into at least one more.
RCMP are investigating the cause of the collision.
