No emergency radios for 4 days

Photo: Contributed

Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen officials said late Friday that primary radio dispatching is again running smoothly, as it was before an incident at the Mount Kobau repeater site.

The towers there, powered by one generator, are functioning fine now, according to Dale Kronebusch, RDOS emergency services supervisor.

Fortis is still working on fixing the power lines.

The situation started in late December, when the snow load on trees caused them to snap taking out power lines. The auxiliary generator went on, but when it ran out of fuel, back up batteries took over.

When the batteries went dead, radio service was lost completely.

Fire departments affected by this included Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Naramata, Willowbrook, Anarchist Mtn., Hedley, Tulameen and Princeton. When the repeater died they had to rely on phones to coordinate services.

The departments not impacted were Summerland, Penticton, Kaleden and Okanagan Falls, said Kronebusch.