How a squirrel brought down the MUHC's computer network
'Unfortunately, it was a squirrel,' says Hydro-Québec
A 45-minute power failure that deprived customers of electricity in NDG, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, and Montreal West, and shut down MUHC's computer network, was caused by a squirrel.
The rodent managed to get inside the Hydro-Québec substation in Hampstead, where it touched two wires at the same time and was electrocuted.
That caused a short circuit, which knocked out six servers at the McGill University Health Centre's computer nerve centre, causing a network failure through the MUHC's operations.
Hydro-Québec spokesperson Louis-Olivier Batty said it's difficult to prevent squirrels from entering substations, despite having infrastructure set up to limit access to squirrels. However, it's not foolproof.
"They are very smart," he said.
Richard Fahey, the director of communications at MUHC, said despite the network outage, all operations at MUHC went ahead, and the emergency rooms continued to function, although with some delays.
However, the hospital administration plans to investigate the computer crash.
"Equipment being burned by some kind of surge of electricity is a big concern for us," Fahey said.