Over 700 Hydro-Québec customers in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie without power after fire in manhole

A fire in a manhole in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie on Tuesday evening left hundreds of Hydro-Québec customers in the dark.

Montreal’s fire department (SIM) says they responded to a call about black smoke coming from a manhole on St. Joseph Boulevard and d’Orléans just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The outages have affected residences and businesses on Bourbonnière and d’Orléans avenues between St. Joseph Boulevard and Masson. At the peak on Wednesday afternoon, 728 addresses were without power.

Residents say they heard a “loud boom” and mentioned that the sewers had foul smells.

Hydro says it was due to an underground electrical equipment failure.

Hydro-Québec’s website states that the initial outage on d’Orléans was on Tuesday at 4:11 p.m. due to “equipment malfunction.” Around 4:36 p.m., power was then cut to those on Bourbonnière as a safety precaution.

The SIM says the smoke was brought under control just before 7 p.m. and the cause of it is not yet known.

Some say it was a cold night and morning without power, as temperatures hovered around the freezing mark.

Further outages began around 7:30 a.m. on Masson and on nearby Pie-IX Boulevard, as emergency work was carried out. Power was restored there at around 3 p.m.

At least seven Hydro-Québec trucks were seen working on the power grid from Tuesday into Wednesday. Cable companies were also seen servicing the area, as internet was shut off.

Hydro says crews were working since Tuesday afternoon to restore service by Wednesday night.

For the 100 customers that are directly impacted by the equipment failure, power may take longer to restore and as a result, the utility is providing generators to them.