What to do when it's freezing and your power goes out in Windsor, Ont.

Power outages can happen any time of the year, no matter the weather.

So what about when it's freezing cold, as it has been during an ongoing cold snap across southwestern Ontario and beyond?

On Monday night into early Tuesday, around 175 homes in the Riverside area of Windsor, Ont., were without power for roughly seven hours, according to Enwin Utilities. 

This happened during the start of an extreme cold warning for Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Enwin's chief operating officer for its hydro division, Jim Brown, says they were able to restrict that outage to people fed electricity from one transformer.

"They would have seen a drop in temperature in the houses over that period of time, but it should not have been a critical issue," he said.

Brown says crews were "immediately at the scene" to change the transformer and get the power back on.

"They [affected residents] had a bird's eye view of what was going on there and about the relative time frame that it was going to take us."

Enwin operates a 24/7 call centre and serves roughly 92,000 customers in the southwestern Ontario border city, according to Brown.

What to do without heat

In the absence of a fireplace, what should people do when their furnaces can't fire up and their homes start to chill?

Jennifer Tanner says it's imperative for people to be as prepared as they can be.

"The first thing we would suggest is that people bundle up, layer up with clothing and blankets and maybe grouped together in a common space in the house," said Windsor's municipal manager of homeless prevention and supportive housing.

"Reach out to friends and family to see if you could stay with them temporarily during the power outage and seek warmth amongst your friends and family," said Tanner.

She also encourages people to support each other by checking on the elderly to ensure they have heat, food and any other resources they need.

"If it became a more drawn-out power outage and affecting a lot of people, the City of Windsor and the emergency response personnel may decide to take further action."

Depending on the projected length of an outage and the temperature outside, Tanner says there would be an assessment by city officials.

Tanner cites large-scale apartment fires during the wintertime when people were displaced for long periods of time.

"Do we need to get the emergency operations centre activated and decide what sort of supports the community might need? If it's something like a warming centre, so people have a safe, warm place to go, either during the day or in overnight hours." 

According to Tanner, a number of factors would need to be considered as it relates to power outages this time of year — including how many people are impacted, how long it's expected to last for, and where people live.

"Folks in lower income neighbourhoods may need more support than people who are in more affluent neighbourhoods, who have their own natural support systems, either with friends or families, or they have the ability to relocate themselves elsewhere." 

She encourages people, no matter how vulnerable they are, to implement their own preparedness measures to avoid having to stay overnight in a community centre on a cot.

"Just as a personal homeowner, if I woke up and it was freezing, I'd immediately think it was my furnace, and then I might reach out to my neighbours to see if they're equally affected. Maybe go on Facebook groups and that sort of thing," added Tanner.

"Then I might confirm on a website or through their social media channels about what's going on with the power outage, and then decide what steps I need to take personally to ensure the safety and comfort of my own household and family members."

Brown says winter ice storms can also cause widespread power outages — and during those events, people should consider leaving their house during the day, if possible.

"Get out and maybe go to a shopping mall or work or school to get warm," he said. 

"If the outage is going to be prolonged, and the temperatures in the house have a danger of falling below freezing, then we would suggest that people consider shutting off the water in their homes and draining their lines and toilet tanks to prevent freezing of those lines, bursting of those lines and damage to the homes."

Brown says Enwin's outage map on its website is a good tool for people to reference whenever the power is off in their home or business.

"If you have a cell phone, you can use that, maybe not your home Wi-Fi because that will be down, but you can use some of your cellular data. Once we know how long it's going to be, we will post up estimated times of restoration." 

What not to do

Brown says Enwin's first message to customers during any extreme cold weather power outage is centred around what not to do, instead of what to do.

He warns against bringing in outdoor vented heating appliances 

"People have been asphyxiated by bringing barbecues into the house and running them," said Brown, citing examples outside of Windsor. 

"Those kinds of things … sometimes propane heaters. It's a very dangerous thing to do."