Outlook on Halton Hills Downed tower causes 8hour blackout The greater portion of Hilla caught In the grasp of blackout that lasted for eight hours Thursday morning The of the blackout affected approximately and businesses a 150- hydro transmission tower that came crashing to the ground ling 130000 volts of live power ai a m Hydro officials believe the incident he result of vandalism Georgetown rural Acton Bramp ton and Misalssaiiga were without power Including traffic lights until 1 when crew member rerouted electrical current tram the Erin Mills Parkway Highway tower to local generating stations It involves a whole lot of Juggling to reroute power said Ontario Hydro spokesman MaryJane fray We ve rerouted the power and were going to Install a new tower by Sunday Hydro officials say no one In jured during the several minutes live cables lay strewn across Erin Mills Parkway In but a woman driving a courier truck lm pacted with the circuit Peel Regional Police say The woman who remained in her truck after hitting the wires was unharmed it a unbelievable that somebody t get hurt said Milton Hydra representative Don Nelson He added that the wire carrying the current was on the road for several minutes Officials pulled the plug the areas electrical as the accident was noticed Ms said an accident of this proportion would be picked up ai the area central stations The transformer station carrying the 2S0 volts runs from Transformer Station near Lester Pearson International Airport to the Trafalgar Transformer Station In Ms said anything Involving would have a impact on a large population Gas pumps traffic lights and street lights wen off In Georgetown streets causing some people to aban don their cars a the road Ontario Hydro suggests the cause of the tower collapse Is vandalism Someone had removed the nuts front of the tower said Ms The person who did It endangered led that a son with same sort of I the nuts was responsible for making the structure unsafe A child or a small woman couldn have done this she said Peel Regional Police and Ontario Hydro officials are Investigating the Incident Downtown Acton which fed from a transformer station in Guelph was unaffected by the blackout according to local hydro officials Power off for over tight hours after a hydro tower came crashing across in off ramp along Officials as the cause for he Incident which led lo traffic problem and 1m Grocers scramble to save perishables By BRIAN MscLEOD Herald Staff One of the longest power outages In Hills in years cost businesses In town thousands dollars Thursday moody In lost It horrendous said Miracle Food Mart manager Tun Martin of the eighthour blackout The power shortage disturbed the Street store computer system rendering cash registers in operable said Mr Martin Cashiers expected to be using calculators well into the evening be said Mr Martin estimated he lost about in perishable goods mainly red meat Store employees carted In 1 SOD pounds of cry ice to help keep the frozen goods and meats cold but and eggs may have lost a few days off their expiry date and some red meats will end up in the gar ban said Mr Martin The store remained open during the blackout as lo customers shopped In the dark on a morning in which more than no customers usually pour through the checkouts Any meat which became discolored due to temperatures which got as high as degrees Fahrenheit will be thrown out said Mr Martin The effect was not as dramatic across the street at super market where about pounds of dry ice helped to keep things cool laid Ron McEacbem locked up turning the whole store Into a refrigerator he said The dry ice was placed strategically over red meals and frozen goods while the store Itself kept relatively cool he said the store remained closed until shortly after lpm when power was At the new Georgetown Pood Market in Moore Park Plata an Innovative approach came to We emptied our counters and put It in the back room and opened the back two doors said store owner Bob Creasy The perishable goods survived the eighthour power outage through the use of natures refrigerator he said but it also tost between and In business a lot for a smaller store said Mr Creasy At Canadian Tire on Guelph Street the loss of customers during the Christmas rush devastating for us said Canadian Tire owner Murray Lawton The doors remained closed at Canadian Tire until 30 when the memory lo the compute boxes could be restored Canadian Tire during the morning power shortage told Mr that upwards of SO customers came and left In Just one half hour period Mr said the power outage was the worst local businesses have experienced in the IB years he has been In Georgetown Downtown Georgetown Business Improvement Area Margaret Vint said many of the businesses closed down during the shortage But Golden Pish and Chips on Main Street did a booming business for coffee on their natural gas stove she said In a different twist Whimsy store owner O Connor said the blackout likely didnt cost her store any money because It a been crazy around here since power returned Although Whimsy s remained closed because of lack of heat and light more people visited the Main Street store than expected in the afternoon said Ms Connor In fact there were far more peo ple shopping in the downtown area than normal she said Vandalism suspected in tower accident Hydro suspects vandalism in the transmission lower accident power I rural and and businesses track was only one who can transmission tower had fallen during a busy time of the day for 11 As It in driver of this rem or who the vandal was But he added the pressure on the bolts plus strong of wind knocked the tower over sprawling the off romp of westbound To keep the base of tin tower In place there are eiht nuts altogether All of them were taken If and taken away he said which contain flic eight inch bolls sold Mr The bolls held the base the toner in place but were 150foot them Mr said it would take considerable equipment to remove the from the lower which is a corner or angle tower The rails could have been removed several days ago and the lower could have fallen at another lime Peel Regional Police and Ontario Hydro officials continue to In vest gate the incident