E V E RYDAY H E R O E S
Encore Trucking pulled together to restore
power during the Waterton wildfire
If you’ve never visited, the town of Waterton is a mustsee
for Alberta – a picturesque village on an ancient river
flat, nestled beside a mountain lake and ringed by the
forested slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
In the summer of 2017, a massive wildfire came over the
mountain range and, thanks to high winds, raced down the
slopes to the edge of the townsite, where the firefighters and
water bombers battled desperately to save the town’s inner
core. All the surrounding vegetation was lost, including trees,
shrubs and grass. But to make matters worse, the buildings
and infrastructure were lost, too. In fact, the power grid
was torched.
As more firefighters poured into the town to try to get
the blaze under control, Fortis sent crews from all over
southern Alberta to repair the grid and keep the emergency
power flowing.
To help restore the power, ARHCA member company
Encore Trucking and Transport Ltd. – the main transport
provider for FortisAlberta – was asked to deliver gear to the
townsite. They immediately loaded five tractor-trailers to the
brim, full of supplies from Fortis’ main yard in Acheson. And
with enough emergency gear to restart the town’s power,
including transformers, poles, regulators, wire, cross arms,
switches, cable and more cable, the team drove hard all night
toward the beleaguered town that needed their help.
But once they got to the park gates, Encore saw that they
had burned to the ground and were still smoking, which
meant the entire area was closed. With no park gates in
sight, Mounties had been posted to secure the area, but they
refused to let the Encore crew pass.
“We were warned to prepare for this,” said Don Lucas,
director at Encore Trucking and Transport. “I had instructed
By Rae Thygesen, ARHCA
Photo: Kris Andrew
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