Tenants of an apartment building in Port Hope were without power for the second time in a week on Saturday, February 7, 2026.
At approximately 4:30 p.m. Port Hope Fire and Emergency Services were dispatched to 155 Toronto Road for a hydro vault on fire with smoke in the basement of a five-storey apartment building.
Upon arrival, Fire Chief Jason Williams stated there was smoke emanating from the hydro vault located in the basement.
“Our crews made entry and they did have significant failure inside the electrical room causing a power outage.”
Originally the power company disconnected the power to an area of Port Hope, but after a short time the outage was confined to the apartment building.
The electrical contractor to the building along with Lexicon were working on finding the problem.
On February 4 Williams said the building was without power for 36-hours and was on a back-up generator while the issue was fixed.
With temperatures on Saturday dipping to a low of -20 Celsius it’s imperative to correct the issue as fast as possible.
“We identified this building is supplied with electrical heat so for now our eta for having emergency backup in place is three to four hours. Obviously we’re dealing with extreme cold right now.”
Williams said it’s hopeful the generator would be arriving to get the heat back on.
Approximately 30 firefighters went door-to-door throughout the building to make sure residents are safe and that they have everything they need during the power outage.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
