The Telus outage Tuesday made for it difficult Smithers fire fighters to do their job, as they battled a house fire.
The blaze saw 25 firefighters and five units respond to the fire on Alfred Avenue around 6 p.m.
Chief Kelly Zacharias noted that downed power lines in both the front and back of the house along with an alley, made the situation a lot harder to deal with.
The downed lines caused a no-go zone at the site until hydro crews were able to cut the power.
As for the Telus outage, it caused some headaches between the fire crew and the 9-1-1 dispatcher as they reportedly had to rely on cell phones to communicate with the centre
The two residents were home at the time, but got out without injuries.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it’s believed it started in the garage.
A fund raiser has been set up to help the home owner, Gladys Anderson, by the Christian Church and you can donate by going to Smithers scrc.com, all donations will get a tax receipt.
