Spate of fires prompts annual meter inspections
SaskPower says the danger areas — Normanview, Glencairn and Uplands — are safe after a busy summer checking thousands of its power meters following a string of fires.
“We’re still placing the highest priority on this issue. We’re pleased to say that the areas in Regina at highest risk of an incident of a fire are addressed. So it’s much less likely we’ll see that kind of incident,” SaskPower spokesperson Jonathan Tremblay said during an update Wednesday.
Since July, when fires caused by SaskPower meters started being reported, SaskPower has inspected more than 15,000 homes. The initial focus was on older homes built in the 1960s and ’70s, however newer homes have also been
inspected. In the Normanview, Glencairn and Uplands areas, 55 per cent of the meter boxes needed to be repaired.
Houses in the Albert Park, Coronation Park, Dieppe, Mount Royal and Parliament Place areas were of secondary concern to SaskPower as they were newer builds. Of the 15,000 inspections completed about 2,000 of them were done in Moose Jaw. Inspections were also done in Weyburn, Shaunavon, Rosetown and Kindersley.
While there have been no fires caused by meters reported outside of Regina, nine occurred in the city.
“To keep the work safe, we not only will continue inspecting over the coming weeks and months, but we’ll have an annual program to sample power boxes across the province and make sure we keep an eye on this kind of damage,” Tremblay said.
The meter problems have been caused due to ground shifting from the significantly dry conditions southern Saskatchewan has experienced over the summer.
Wayne Clifton, a geotechnical engineer in Regina, said the dry conditions caused the brown soil zone, in which Regina is located, to act as a sponge during the wet years, soaking up the moisture.
“The sponge became very full, and the ground surface moved upward. During the extreme dry spell — and this is the driest long term spell ever recorded in Regina in particular — that sponge is drying out and the ground surface is dropping,” he said.
As the soil dries and drops, it grips onto the wire coming out of the meter boxes, pulling harder and harder on the wires, Clifton explained. Eventually the wires fail and pull out of the meter, which is when arcing occurs and can cause a fire.
Heading into winter, Clifton said the threat for problems with the meters decreases.
“The amount of ground movement in the wintertime will be not as great as we’re experiencing right now. But it’s the deeper surfaces, the water and sewer services, that will suffer if the dry soil conditions persist because frost penetrates deeper in dry soil than it does in wet soil,” he said.
So far SaskPower has invested $2 million fixing the meters, and as the inspections continue the utility is not sure how much more money will be spent.