UPDATE #4: The warming centre at Evergreen Park will stay open until 12 a.m. Anyone needing a warm place to stay after that should call 780-296-4172.
UPDATE #3: As of 6 p.m., natural gas is now flowing from the compressed trailers and ATCO Gas workers are going door-to-door to restore service. It could take several hours for them to reach all homes, so anyone not wanting to wait in the cold can stay in the warming centre in Evergreen Park.
To arrange a time, contact ATCO’s Emergency Dispatch at 1-800-511-3447. Employees will be working through the night. If you’d rather wait at home using a fireplace to keep warm, make sure your house is properly ventilated. Don’t use a BBQ or gas-fuelled space heater and don’t sit for long in an idling vehicle.
UPDATE #2: The subdivisions of Brookside, Meadow Brook, Aspen Ridge, Sunnybrook, Eastland Acres, Triple L Trailer Court, Autumn Wood, Arthur Lane and Sunridge Estates are the ones affected by the outage. Local school districts are making arrangements with parents to have children living in those areas picked up.
UPDATE: A warming centre has been set up at Evergreen Park for those affected by the natural gas outage and their pets. People are asked to bring basic necessities in case they have be out of their home for a long time.
The fire at the farm tap unit has been put out but more than 300 households are still without natural gas. Compressed natural gas trailers are being brought in to make sure residents have access during the outage. Once gas is flowing, ATCO Gas workers will be going door-to-door to help people re-light their appliances.
The Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership has been activated. Residents are asked to stay out of the area so crews can finish their work.
Around 300 people east of Grande Prairie don’t have natural gas right now after a farm tap unit that supplies the area caught fire. ATCO Gas spokesperson Jennifer Sheehan says they were called to Range Road 52 and Highway 670 in Clairmont around 7:15 a.m.
A tube trailer is on its way to supply people with natural gas in the meantime, but it will be several hours before it gets hooked up. An extreme cold warning is still in effect for the region, with wind chills of minus 40 in the forecast.
We’ll update when we know more.
