More than 3,000 homes lost power for two hours on Wednesday night, BC Hydro is reporting.
Power went out in Cranbrook at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, and was restored at 9:47 p.m. the same night.
Homes west of 3rd Street South in Cranbrook were without power, with the outage spreading down Highway 3/95 almost to Moyie. That included Jimsmith Lake, New Lake and Cobham Avenue.
"The cause was determined to be equipment failure in the Steeples substation," said Diane Tammen, BC Hydro's community relations manager for the East Kootenay.
The Steeples substation is located on 3rd Street South behind the Cranbrook fire hall.
"Crews were called out and determined that the failure was inside the substation," said Tammen.
Electricians came to the site and switched the power to an alternate circuit.
Now the faulty piece of equipment will be replaced, before the supply is returned to its original circuit.
Tammen said the outage was not related to the hot weather this week. But BC Hydro does see more outages at this time of year because birds and small rodents are more active and can get into equipment.
In this case, Tammen said, BC Hydro does not know the exact cause of the equipment failure.