Shots fired in the early morning hours of April 26 left bullet holes in three BC Hydro voltage regulators near Trout Lake Road and caused about 2,500 litres of oil to spill onto the ground below.
Mark O'Donohue lives near the area and heard what he thought were gunshots at about 1:30 a.m. and again at 5:30 a.m., which caused the power to go off and on in his home.
After the second incident, he decided to drive around to see if he could find the source of the problem.
"I got all the way down to the highway and I couldn't see anything with the poles up the road, so I decided to drive up the highway because I knew they had just installed some new poles about a month and a half ago and they are three of the biggest terminals that I've ever seen," O'Donohue said. "I could just see gunshot holes through all three of the fronts of them and this liquid, which I don't even know what it is, was just gushing out all down the telephone poles all over."
He phoned the RCMP who responded and alerted BC Hydro.
Ted Olynyk, community relations manager with BC Hydro for Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, said crews responded and de-energized the line at about 7:30 a.m. to deal with the problem. That power shut-off affected about 500 customers for about 15 minutes, he said.
Crews then worked to contain the oil spill, Olynyk said, noting the oil used is not harmful to the environment.
"It is a mineral oil. It's something we use to insulate transmission lines as well so that they don't overheat or anything, but it's just basically a mineral oil. And what happened when I say it was contained it was absorbed into the ground and we contained it. Water wasn't impacted or anything like that," Olynyk said. "Subsequently they removed the soil then on Monday [April 29] and it was about six or seven truckloads. There will be further testing to make sure they got everything there, but they're pretty happy with it."
Cost for the cleanup and repair to damaged voltage regulators is estimated by BC Hydro to be about $250,000.
RCMP are asking anyone with information on the incident to contact Const. Mengerink at 604-885-2266 or to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Bullet holes were also discovered in the Kal Tire building in Sechelt on April 26. It is believed the shots were fired overnight; however, RCMP cannot confirm if the two incidents are related.
Investigation into both matters is ongoing.
