The city is doing a post-incident assessment of the response to the Dec. 19 power blackout that lasted for some four hours in parts of Whistle Bend and points north, city council heard at its meeting Monday.

According to ATCO Electric Yukon, 3,360 customers and their family members lost power during 40-below weather after a breaker at the Takhini substation overloaded, tripping protection settings.

Yukon Energy indicated it had failed to anticipate the dimension of the power demand at that time.

Coun. Ted Laking asked if a post-incident assessment is being conducted.

The Dec. 19 blackout really tested the electrical grid, he told his colleagues on council.

Perhaps, he suggested, it might be wise to slow down the development of Whistle Bend to allow the rest of the infrastructure to catch up to growth in the city. Most homes there are electrically heated.

Mayor Laura Cabott then asked administration for an explanation on the city’s response to the blackout.

City manager Jeff O’Farrell noted the city had been preparing to turn the Canada Games Centre into a warming shelter, but officials did not proceed, as it was administration’s understanding that power was soon to be restored.

Cold weather blackouts are one of the scenarios around which the city’s emergency response plans are built, he said.

O’Farrell said in the case of cold weather blackouts, the standard response from the city is to turn the Games Centre into a warming shelter. The city reminded the public of that on the morning of Dec. 23.

It’s a fact, he told council, that in the case of a cold weather blackout, the centre can be used as a warming shelter because it’s equipped with back-up generators, he said.

“So cold weather blackouts are indeed part of our planning for emergencies,” he said.

“On the evening of Dec. 19, there was consideration given early on to the possibility of activating our emergency operations centre and communicating to the public the Canada Games Centre would be available as a warming shelter,” he said.

“We opted not to take that action though as we were operating with the understanding that it would be a short event without power.

“But of course, as everybody knows, it turned out to be in excess of fours hours in some parts of Whistle Bend.”

Laking asked whether an incident assessment of the response to the blackout was being conducted, as he would like to see what the assessment says.

O’Farrell said the post-incident assessment was actually being conducted this week with the involvement of the Yukon’s Emergency Measures Organization, the city, ATCO Electric Yukon, Yukon Energy and other parties that were involved in the events of Dec. 19.

He also noted Cabott wrote to Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker.

That correspondence was sent on Dec. 22, calling for a post-incident review, the city manager said.

He said the correspondence also sought assurances regarding the adequacy and reliability of the grid to supply power to the ever-growing community.

It also suggested a meeting between council and the minister, O’Farrell said.

Cabott told her colleagues she has spoken with Streicker and he is amenable to having a meeting with council.

The session is likely to be within a couple of weeks; they were just looking for a date, she said.

After the major Dec. 19 disruption, Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall told Streicker the utility should have been better prepared to accommodate the power demands during the bitter cold snap.

The incident prompted the Yukon Party to ask pointed questions about the reliability of the territory’s power infrastructure as the population steadily rises.