Family wants answers from NSP after wobbly power pole falls, nearly sparks fire during storm

A Mount Uniacke, N.S., family says they had to stay in a hotel last weekend after a power pole on their property snapped off and fell to the ground, leaving them fearful it might spark a fire at their home.

Jennifer Chiasson said her husband warned Nova Scotia Power for a year that the pole needed to be replaced because its condition had deteriorated to the point it wobbled when someone pushed against it. She said an inspector even came and agreed the repair needed to be done, but the work didn't happen.

"This was a very unfortunate situation," she said. "It caused an immense amount of distress, especially for my children. If they were more proactive in fixing what would have been a very simple pole replacement, it could have saved them I'm sure thousands of dollars."

Chiasson's family was left without power Friday night when a windstorm hit the province.

They heard a surge as though the power was going to reconnect and then realized something was wrong.

"That's when we heard some loud noises and crashes from our side yard. That's when we saw some sparks and some fire."

Looking out their living room window, they discovered the pole had come down, taking a transformer with it. Chiasson believes power crews were attempting to restore electricity to the community, not realizing they were sparking flames in her yard.

"First inclination was to get the kids to a safe place. Then my husband phoned 911 right away."

Chiasson said they also called the utility, pleading with customer service representatives to make sure crews on the ground knew what was happening.

She said the fire department came to make sure the flames had been doused by the rain, while she took her frightened children to a hotel.

Hours later, on Saturday morning, her husband said the transformer surged with power again.

"Our biggest concern was the lack of communication between the emergency service and Nova Scotia Power," Chiasson said. "They hadn't isolated the line and they tried to turn the power back on in the community and unfortunately we had a repeat of the situation that we had on Friday with the fire and the sparks and another 911 call."

In a statement to CBC News, Nova Scotia Power apologized for the ordeal.

"We're very sorry for what the Chiasson family went through," it said. "That isn't an experience we want for any of our customers. We'll be following up with them directly."

The utility did not answer questions about why the pole had not been replaced. Nor did it address questions about the communication between 911 and its crews on the ground.

Chiasson said Nova Scotia Power employees did show up on Saturday, and the family appreciates their hard work.

But she said she wants answers from the company.

"The communication with Nova Scotia Power and their reactiveness instead of being somewhat more proactive is incredibly frustrating," she said. "We lost a transformer, we have soil that now needs to be remediated, just the emergency cost of the repair is substantially more than it ever should have been."

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