Flaming raven starts forest fire, cuts power to Yellowknife
Firefighters working on 15-hectare fire near Bluefish hydro dam
A raven caused a power outage in Yellowknife and a forest fire outside the community Monday night in a series of unfortunate events, says the NWT Power Corporation.
"We believe that a raven touched one of our wires, one of our transmitting towers, and the result was he was electrocuted and fell to the ground and started the fire and it cut the power," says Pam Coulter with NTPC.
The fire started Monday night at around 5:30 p.m. near the Bluefish hydro dam.
The power was out in Yellowknife, Behchoko, Dettah and N'dilo for about an hour and a half over the supper hour. The region is now receiving hydro power solely from the Snare system.
The N.W.T. Department of Environment and Natural Resources says the fire has scorched about 15 hectares of land. Water bombers have been dispatched to fight the fire along with more than a dozen firefighters who are on site this afternoon.
The fire is about 25 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.