B.C. communications tower destroyed in blaze

Shaw will replace tower destroyed in weekend blaze

Lori Jenks, Comox Valley Echo
Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

CUMBERLAND, B.C. — A weekend fire caused up to $2 million in damage and destroyed a Shaw Communications transmission tower, knocking out some cable-TV and Internet services.

RCMP said a door appeared to have been tampered with and there was evidence that an accelerant was used in the building where the fire started, said RCMP spokesman Const. Dennis Flint. But he stopped short of saying the fire was intentionally set.

“Somebody can go in there and start fooling around and start a fire,” Flint said. “That’s not deliberately set, but they shouldn’t be there.”

Shaw CEO Jim Shaw said the company was alerted to the problem Saturday morning by unhappy cable customers who lost some of their channels. The company then sent a technician to the unmanned station.

After negotiating rough logging roads in the Trent River area south of Cumberland, all the technician could do was call the fire department.

Then an explosion in one of the tower’s propane-fuelled generators shortly before fire crews arrived forced them to wait another two hours to ensure there was no danger of more propane tanks exploding and to get hydro lines shut off.

It finally took 10 firefighters to put the fire out. A perimeter was set up to prevent the fire spreading to the forest, said Cumberland fire chief Ken McClure.

“The forest danger is at low right now,” McLure said. “This would have been a lot different if it had been in the middle of August.”

Despite police evidence, Shaw said the fire could have been the result of aging equipment rather than foul play.

“It had been there for some 20 years,” he said. “It was probably due to have a bit of trouble.

“I wouldn’t want to suppose that somebody started it when in fact some of our equipment could have overheated, caught on fire and started the fire ourselves, which can happen pretty easily because there’s a lot of electrical equipment in there.”

Six of the nine cable channels transmitted via the tower were back in service Monday and the rest were expected back by the end of the week. Internet service to Powell River was knocked out but has since been restored.

Shaw said the company is planning to replace the transmission tower. Anyone with information can contact Comox Valley RCMP at [stop snitchin’] or Crime Stoppers at [stop snitchin’].