Advertisement

Man suffers significant burns during electrocution incident

Click to play video: 'Man suffers significant burns during electrocution incident'
Man suffers significant burns during electrocution incident
WATCH ABOVE: A man who broke into a B.C. Hydro substation in Armstrong remains in hospital Friday with severe injuries. It's not clear why the young man was inside the high-voltage compound but the shock that electrocuted him was also enough to start a fire on a transformer and knock out power to thousands. Kimberly Davidson reports. – Apr 1, 2016

ARMSTRONG, B.C. – 11:30 a.m. – RCMP say a a 25-year-old man suffered significant burns after being electrocuted at a B.C. Hydro substation in the north Okanagan.

Police and the Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Department were called to the Smith Drive substation in Armstrong at 8:10 p.m. Thursday night for calls of a fire.

They found a man was seriously injured inside the fenced compound.

RCMP are investigating how he found his way in and why he was there. He is said to not be an employee.

The victim was transported to Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

The incident caused a power outage between Vernon and Lumby for more than three hours affecting almost 10,000 customers at the peak.

UPDATE:  9:20 a.m.  BC Hydro says a person somehow got inside the fencing at a sub-station in Armstrong and caused an electrical fire that knocked out power to almost 8,000 North Okanagan customers.

Story continues below advertisement

The man sustained serious electrical contact injures and was taken to hospital.  There is no word on his condition.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The Armstrong Fire Department was called in to deal with the fire.

Power was restored shortly after midnight.

ARMSTRONG, B.C. – UPATE 11:30 P.M. Power still off in North Okanagan communities. B.C. Hydro downgrades affected to 7,700 instead of 10,000. Still no estimate when power will be back on.

The power went out to thousands in the North Okanagan just before 9 p.m. Thursday following a fire at a substation.

B.C. Hydro reports on their website that, “crews are on site and continuing to work towards restoring power quickly and safely.”

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Story continues below advertisement

There are about 7,700 B.C. Hydro customers affected in an area on the northwest side of Okanagan Lake west of Vernon, north to Spallumcheen and Armstrong including properties just to east of Highway 97 north of Vernon.

While B.C. Hydro initially believed crews would have power restored in about an hour but the power was still reported off at 11 p.m.

Sponsored content

AdChoices