Engineers from BC Hydro, the water and electric utility for the Canadian province of British Columbia, they identified a beaver as the culprit of a general connectivity failure in that Canadian province last week.
According to publishes CTVNewsthe fall of a poplar last June 7 cut off an electricity line from BC Hydro, and a fiber optic cable from the internet provider Telus, which much of northwestern British Columbia shut downa province of 5 million people, affecting the cities of Burns Lake, Granisle, Haida Gwaii, the Hazeltons, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Thornhill, Houston, Topley, Telkwa, Fraser Lake and Vanderhoof.
BC Hydro’s staff concluded that the The fall of the tree was caused by a beaver because of the teeth marks on the base. That fall cut the two lines in a swampy area that was difficult to access, delaying the service’s reactivation and also sparking a fire controlled by local firefighters from Topley, the nearest town.
“It’s unusual, but it happens from time to time,” said Bob Gammer, a BC Hydro employee. So I wouldn’t be a rich man if I had a dime for every beaver disturbance, but once in a while it happens.”
Apart from the problem of internet access, the fall of the tree made all city life more difficult, since no payment system workedfor which businesses were forced to ask for cash payments, including one of the few gas stations in the area, but as customers complained, people no longer carry bills with them: everything is turned into electronic payments.
The outage also affected the mobile phone service, which uses the fiber optic network for data connections from nearby phones.
The area’s infrastructure provider, CityWest, confirmed that: installs a second fiber optic line to connect the area to Vancouver; so there will be two connections for the zone and this will prevent another beaver from causing a service failure.
