Downtown Calgary left in the dark Tuesday after fire sparks power outage

Many downtown Calgary homes and businesses were left in the dark Tuesday night, after a vault fire caused a power outage in the city’s core.

Calgary Fire and Enmax responded to the fire at the intersection of 7 Avenue and 9 Street, causing the area to lose power.

The city says the blaze was successfully put out by the fire department.

Due to the outage, several downtown streets were closed for safety reasons.

Crews had to restore traffic lights along 4 Avenue, 5 Avenue, 6 Avenue. and 7 Avenue, along 4 Street.

Enmax tells CityNews that crews were able to bring power back to the downtown just after 1 a.m.

Customers are encouraged to look to social media and enmax.com for the latest on power outages.

To stay safe during a power outage, Calgarians are asked to use flashlights instead of candles, turn off or disconnect any electrical appliance and equipment to prevent damage from overload when power is restored, and use extra blankets to stay warm while power comes back.

Good practices are also to keep a cellphone handy to stay up-to-date on the status of the outage, keep one light plugged in and switched on, so you know when the power returns, and limit how often you open and close the refrigerator and freezer doors to help food stay coo.

Camp stoves, kerosene heaters or barbeques shouldn’t be used indoors as they create carbon monoxide. Gas stoves used as a heat source for long periods of time without ventilation will also do the same.