STOP THE PRESSES!
Car crash ends our streak
In January 1998, when Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States were plunged into darkness and sealed in a thick layer of ice, we brought you your newspapers every day.
Five years later, in August 2003, when a massive power outage crippled Ontario and many U.S. states, affecting an estimated 55 million people, our readers still received their papers.
And two years ago, in February 2016, after a record 51.6 centimetres of snow enveloped the city in a single day, exhausted Ottawa shovellers were able to read about their and their neighbours’ miseries in the next day’s paper.
On Thursday, however, following a mishap that saw a 50-year-old motorist crash his Dodge Caliber into a hydro pole on Richmond Road, knocking out power to 462 Hydro Ottawa customers, we were unable to print and deliver you your newspaper.
We are so sorry.
The driver was, thankfully, not seriously hurt in the collision, which police attributed to a mechanical failure. (Production of the Caliber, most likely unrelated to this incident, stopped after 2012, when Dodge revived its iconic Dart brand. The Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun’s fleet of cars, it might be added, is comprised of Calibers.) The driver in question, though, was taken by paramedics to the hospital, just to be sure he was all right, and no charges were laid.
Meanwhile, at our offices on Baxter Road, the presses had completed their runs of the National Post, Cornwall Standard and Brockville Recorder & Times, and were readying to print the Citizen and Sun when, at 11:13 p.m., the building went dark.
The crew of about 20 pressmen and others waited to see what would happen next. There were stories to get out: climate change, storm damage, pot shops, city development, fraud, the crossword puzzles.
Hydro Ottawa’s website announced the outage would be repaired by 5 a.m., but their automated phone recording offered a glimmer more hope, indicating that the power would be back on within a couple of hours, at 1:30 a.m. That estimate was later updated, first to 2:30 a.m., and then to 5, matching the unchanged website. The press room crew normally finish their shift at 2:30 in the morning. On this day, they were asked to remain longer.
Power was restored slightly before 4:30 a.m., and had that been the only problem that night, the paper might still have made it out, albeit late. But a mechanical malfunction occurred when the main power returned and failed to trip a switch closing off the backup generator that powered emergency lights and a few other functions during the outage. As a result, a pair of control panels, including one connected to the building ’s fire alarms were deactivated. Without functioning fire alarms, the presses cannot run.
Aided by Ottawa Hydro workers, technicians worked back from the idle presses to determine the source of the problem. At 6 a.m., the pressmen were finally sent home. By the time the issue was discovered and resolved, around 7:30 a.m., it was officially deemed too late to print and distribute the paper.
Thursday’s afternoon shift of press workers was called in early, and the press roared back to life again at 10 a.m. A run of Thursday Suns were printed, to be delivered Thursday evening to home subscribers. Thursday’s Citizen, meanwhile, was printed to be delivered with Friday’s paper.
According to Postmedia’s senior vice-president of manufacturing, Patrick Brennan, our failure to get the paper out on Thursday was the only such occurrence in the 40-plus years he’s been with the Citizen. The Sun has also never missed a day, according to the best available records.
“We’ve been late a few times,” Brennan said, “and it’s invariably hydro that takes us out.”
Throughout Thursday morning and afternoon, meanwhile, numerous Citizen and Sun readers emailed, phoned, messaged and even came in person to inquire, pick up a paper, or complain.
Most were understanding. Some, a little less so.
“A large part of our day still revolves around making our print deadline every night,” said Citizen editor-in-chief Michelle Richardson. “And this morning we were reminded exactly why that is so important. We heard from readers across Ottawa and the valley who depend on us to keep them informed and connected to their communities.”
Again, our apologies.