Times-Chronicle Staff
FortisBC is urging its customers in the Osoyoos area to reduce their electricity usage during the peak hours of use between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. due to the ongoing Nk’mip Creek wildfire. The power company says its crews have been supporting local emergency services personnel Oliver and Osoyoos since yesterday evening in response to the wildfire.
“The wildfire has forced us to de-energize part of our electricity system and while the system is still stable, we may be operating on the upper end of our limits on our system today,” FortisBC said in a statement this afternoon.
The energy company is suggesting some ways customers can reduce their energy use, including:
- Cooking outdoors on barbeques tonight, if possible
- Washing dishes by hand or setting the timers on dishwashers to run in the middle of the night
- Running laundry later in the evening
- Reduce air conditioning use
Power to much of Osoyoos and other areas extending out of town past the north end of the lake was disrupted for nearly three hours yesterday as a result of the wildfire. A FortisBC spokesperson said that emergency officials onsite had asked for power to be interrupted for safety purposes, impacting some 3,000 customers.
“We worked with local emergency officials to safely restore power as quickly as possible and by about 7:30 p.m. yesterday, approximately 800 customers were without power.” A total of 15 customers had their power restored today with 15 remaining customers expected to have their power restored later this evening FortisBC said.
