Correspondence

Minutes from the Post-Blackout Community Meeting on January 22nd, 2009, Parkdale Public Library, 7-8 pm

Councillor Gord Perks emailed these minutes on January 23

Meeting organizers:
MPP Cheri Di Novo
Councillor Gord Perks, Councillor, Ward 14, Parkdale High Park

Representatives from Toronto Hydro:
Blair Peberdy, Ivano Labricciosa, Ben LaPianta,

Representatives from Hydro One:
Laura Cook, Mike Penstone,

Representatives from the City of Toronto
Kevin Sack, Director of Corporate Communications Nestor Uhera, Energy Efficiency Office

MPP Di Novo opened the meeting and welcomed everyone and explained the format for the meeting. She also thanked some of the community leaders who helped get the meeting organized.

Councillor Perks thanked City staff, the emergency operations staff and communications staff for a job well done.

The panel
Click to enlarge

Hydro One explained what caused the outage and what they are doing to avoid it happening again. Mike Penstone also apologized for the inconvenience it caused. He used a diagram of the transformer station to show what happened in the shared Hydro One and Toronto Hydro facility.

Mike showed the very large transformers and the fire protection system (deluge spray valve - six of them connected to a high pressure system). The valve open accidentally and caused a lot of water to pour into the station. Water drains into a holding tank (because the water could be mixed with oil) to protect the environment. The holding tank filled beyond capacity and water reached the equipment owned by Toronto Hydro. Also, The Hydro One equipment and sprinklers are on the floor above the Toronto Hydro equipment. There was some leaking into the Toronto Hydro Section. To prevent the water from contacting live transformers Toronto Hydro disconnected power. This prevented a much more serious and long lasting outage.

From: Dougal Bichan <dougal@...> > Subject: [diggingin] Re:blackout > To: diggingin@yahoogroups.com > Received: Saturday, January 17, 2009, 10:30 PM > > Last report that I heard, the blackout was caused by a problem with > the sprinkler system in the transformer vault at the Hydro substation > at Bloor and Dufferin. Who is interested in starting a class action > suit for gross negligence against Toronto Hydro for this blackout? > > Dougal

In diggingin@yahoogroups.com, victor soares <zzzxxme@...> wrote: > > I would be. It is crazy that this could happen again

On Tue, 1/27/09, Dougal Bichan <dougal@dougalco.com> wrote: From: Dougal Bichan <dougal@dougalco.com> Subject: [diggingin] Re:blackout To: diggingin@yahoogroups.com

In order to start a class action suit, it would require maybe 500 - 600 of the 22,000 customers who lost power to come forward and want to start an action. That could also meant putting in $50 - $100 to pay for the action. My impression from the meeting in Parkdale is that this group of residents, and Canadians in general to be fair, is far too docile to undertake anything like that. There was hardly a raised voice. I could not believe how accepting we are about this travesty. There was only one woman, who is facing a $20,000 repair bill, who even brought the question. I could be wrong.

From Victor Sores: ....and that is why these things keep happening. People do not want to do anything and the companies feel no need to correct the problems. Frustrates me

On January 27 2009, Nicole McKelvey wrote: Councillor Giambrone.. I am a member of your ward and have been devastated by the blackout.. I had a busted pipe because of having no power for 24 hours and now have been left with a flooded basement because of it. Yes of course we have dealt with insurance but that does not cover the deductible, the emergency plumber, the out of pocket expenses... the list goes on and on.. for you to not do more and really get on Hydro ones back to help us out is unacceptable. I pay my hydro bill every month. They should be liable to homeowners as it is their fault pipes have burst leaving homeowners with a mess on the hands. I am expecting to hear back from someone in your office and also someone from Hydro one. When you pay for a service and dont get it thats one thing, however when you pay for a service and it ruins your home its a totally different situation. Why dont you pay more attention to the residents of your ward and less on the TTC!!!

Jan.17 2009, e-mail Mr.Tony Reprecht, M.P.P.Davenport and Ms.Cheri DiNovo, M.P.P. Parkdale-High Park, from Jutta Mason

Dear Ms. DiNovo and Mr.Ruprecht,

I am hoping that you intend to hold a community follow-up briefing session on the recent hydro power outage (10 pm January 15 to 9.30 pm January 16th). As you know, the 23-hour outage was due to a sprinkler system malfunction, and it affected a large number of your constituents. Many of us in this part of Toronto remember the effects of the last sprinkler malfunction at that same transformer station, which piggybacked onto the huge August 2003 blackout. On that occasion, flooding caused by the Transformer's sprinkler system caused this area to be without power for 9 to 15 hours longer than the rest of Toronto. That time high-rise residents were without refrigeration and even water during a heat wave. This time there people were desperately cold, pipes froze, and at least one house in the neighbourhood caught fire.

It would be helpful if you could schedule a community briefing session with a knowledgable technical representative from Hydro One who can explain what happened and exactly how they will prevent a third such catastrophe. Our small local research group is prepared to create a web page that can be posted to various neighborhood e-lists and local web sites, describing what is said at such a follow-up briefing.

In addition, we are concerned about the fact that this defective sprinkler system is installed in an unstaffed, automated transformer building. Could you please let us know whether there is on-site staffing for now to monitor the condition of the evidently fragile system until its problems are remedied?

January 19 2009, e-mail from Cheri DiNovo

I just got back from a government trip to this news. I have my Constituency Assistant, Carly Jones, working on setting a meeting up with Gord Perks, our councillor in that ward. You’ll hear shortly.

January 19 2009, e-mail from Donna Cowan, chair of DIGIN

Dear Mr. Ruprecht, Ms. DiNovo and Mr. Smitherman,

DIGIN would also like to also request a public meeting to discuss the recent power outage in West Toronto.

Your constituents have many questions regarding this latest breakdown. The residents vividly remember the stress and dangers of the blackout a few summers ago and wonder why this particular station was the source of the crisis again.

Community members are voicing their concern and some are under the impression that because our neighbourhood is a working-class, largely immigrant community that it isn't a priority to you.

I look forward to this meeting. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need assistance in informing the local residents of the meeting time and place.

January 19 2009, e-mail from M.P.P. Cherie DiNovo to Donna Cowan, chair of DIGIN

We will be sending an email announcement tomorrow morning but if you could let folk know we have booked Parkdale Library for Thursday evening at 7 for a meeting with Hydro Ontario Power and the community, Gord Perks will also be there. Thanks for your activism.

January 19 2009, e-mail from Jutta Mason to City Councillor Adam Giambrone

hello Adam -- will you be working with these folks and with Tony Ruprecht to set up a joint meeting?

January 19 2009, e-mail from Carly Jones, assistant to Cheri DiNovo, MPP

Please be advised that we have set up a community meeting with Councillor Gord Perks and representatives from Toronto Hydro and Hydro One to answer any questions from our community members. Please do attend if you are able, and let any of your neighbours know who may also be interested.

The meeting will be this Thursday, January 22nd, 7:00pm at Parkdale Public Library.

More information: Parkdale-High Park Constituency Office, Tel: 416-763-5630