UPDATE: Fortis B.C. says power has now been restored to most of Summerland after a nine hour long outage. The District of Summerland says about 3,500 customers were affected.
Meantime the Interior Health Authority is providing important food safety information in the event the outage persists and food spoilage becomes an issue.
IHA says in a power outage, a refrigerator can usually keep food cool for up to four hours and a freezer can usually keep food safe for a few days, if it is kept closed. The Health Authority says ideally, fridge temperatures should remain at 4 degrees Celsius or colder and food in the freezer should remain frozen solid.
For residents without a thermometer or for those that don’t know how long the fridge or freezer have been without power, IHA is providing the following tips.
-Check the products in the fridge for spoilage and souring.
-Milk and other dairy products that have been spoiled or become sour are good indicators that the fridge has been off for too long and all the food should be discarded.
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-Ice cream that has thawed and refrozen is a good indicator that the freezer has been off.
-Fish product that smells bad upon thawing is also a sign that food in your freezer has thawed and refrozen.
-Frozen foods that have thawed must be discarded as they may no longer be safe to eat.
-Once thawed, food should not be refrozen.
IHA also adds that if there has been an extended power outage, it may be necessary to contact your insurance provider. Make a list of items discarded and photograph those items (if possible) for insurance purposes.
SUMMERLAND — The power is out in Summerland.
FortisBC says the outage happened about 5:30 A.M.
The utility says crews are on site inspecting a problem with a transformer that failed.
It says additional crews have been dispatched to the scene.
FortisBC says it hopes to have the power back on shortly.
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