By Glenn Hicks

Electrical unit caused P.A. Airport hangar fire: Investigator

Jun 4, 2018 | 5:18 PM

The dramatic fire that destroyed the Transwest Air maintenance hangar at the Prince Albert airport was caused by an electrical fault.

The blaze in mid-April also destroyed five aircraft, most of which were inside the hangar, when the fire spread quickly in the largely wooden structure.

“Electrical arcing was the ignition source of the fire, “P.A.Fire department investigator Dave Davies told paNOW. “It was from a Ground Power Supply or GPU which is a separate piece of equipment that was plugged into the building and is used to supply power to a plane when it’s inside.”

Davies said their investigation was helped by a couple of factors.

“The videos [taken from the responding fire trucks] were phenomenal, and showed a fuel package burning in the southeast corner,” he said. “And the original 911 caller had walked us through what he’d seen which pin-pointed the exact same location.”

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The fire was called in around 11:30 p.m. Sunday April 15, but the old structure became fully involved and by the morning all that remained was a pile of twisted steel and rubble.

A spokesperson for Transwest Air said in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the estimated loss was well in the millions of dollars.

Four aircraft were lost inside the historic hangar, two fixed wing and another two were helicopters. Another plane parked outside the building was also destroyed.

Asked if there were any significant lessons learned as a result of the blaze, Davies said it was important to keep electrical devices unplugged if they were not being used.

“There is always the potential for something electrical to happen but if it’s not plugged in there is zero chance,” he said.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow