Approximately 15 people who live in an apartment building on Athabasca’s 48 Ave. were out of their homes more than a week after a lightning strike disabled the building’s power systems.
On July 3 after 2 p.m., lightning struck the side of the building, causing a total power failure for all residences.
Athabasca Fire Department chief Ryan Bodnarchuk said they received the call at 2:42 p.m. and were on scene shortly after to conduct an inspection. He said the crews found several exit points on the soffits and on the ground, as well as a six-inch hole on the top of the roof where the bolt entered.
In the building, he said they found burnt electrical outlets, light switches and electrical power meters.
Condo board president Kyle Nazaruk said he tried calling about 10 electricians to see if one would be able to fix the problem, but due to the long weekend none were available.
Nazaruk and Bodnarchuk went to all 12 units asking tenants to leave the building due to safety precautions, resulting in approximately 15 people having to leave their homes.
“With no power, that means no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide (detectors) none of that would be able to work,” Nazaruk said. “The fire department and I thought it’d be a good idea to try and get people to not stay the night.”
“You don’t mess around when stuff like that happens,” he added. “If you put power to it, then the building could catch fire then everyone’s out of a home. So we took all the necessary safety precautions.”
It came as a surprise to tenants like Manuel Kahs and his wife, who found out they had to leave the building the day after they returned from vacation.
“Our neighbour was sitting outside and told us we can’t go in,” Kahs said.
“At first I thought it was a joke, but he said “No can’t go in – we got hit by lightning.” I called Kyle and he said, ‘Grab whatever you need, and hopefully by tomorrow we’ll have you back in the place.’ That was on Monday. Now it’s a week later.”
Kahs said he and his wife are staying at the Athabasca Lodge until they are allowed back in the building. He added people have been granted permission to enter and exit their apartments throughout the week.
Nazaruk said he had hoped the tenants would be able to return to their homes Monday night, but due to the extensive damage to the power meters they have to wait on parts for the new unit. He added that the electrician told him he was not aware on the time frame.
“It could be a week. It could be shorter than a week – we don’t really know,” he said.
He added that he determined at least $20,000 in panels had to be replaced.
“We’re just doing our best to get it done, regardless of the cost,” he said. “We just want to get people back to their homes.”
