Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the local region over the weekend.
Thousands of people were without power for upwards of 24 hours or more after strong winds toppled trees onto hydro wires, sending local fire departments into a flurry of action.
The lights went out around 3:30 pm Friday afternoon.
Deep River firefighters were initially dispatched to the report of downed power lines near the marina, and attended the scene along with police and public works crews.
That’s when the firefighters and police started receiving numerous other calls from dispatch, to reports of downed lines on Alder Crescent, Algonquin Street and McDonald Street.
They were also dispatched to two calls where the downed lines had sparked fires, on Chadwick Drive in the west end of town and Banting Drive, just off the golf course, in the east end of town, and were able to quickly suppress the fires.
That’s about when the Laurentian Hills fire department started receiving numerous calls from dispatch, and firefighters raced up to Moore Lake Road at Rolphton to suppress a fire which had been sparked by a downed line there.
While there, they were also dispatched to similar incidents along Bass Lake Road and Kean Road, off Wylie Road.
Stretched as thinly as they were by that point, the fire department somehow managed to send a crew to help locals in Rapides des Joachims put out a fire at Madore and Souliere.
Things didn’t improve much on Saturday…
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