A mechanical issue at Lansdowne Village in downtown Kamloops has caused a power outage for a number of businesses.

Kamloops Fire and Rescue responded to the Dollarama at Fifth Avenue and Lansdowne Street, ordering that store and several others to be evacuated,

“The HVAC system above Dollarama was pushing white smoke through the attic access into the building of Dollarama,” Fire Captain Daniel Funk told NL News. “BC Hydro has shut down power. There was actually a high voltage fault that’s happened and power could be shut down for the rest of the day at the building.”

Fire crews were stood down from the scene just before noon with Hydro crews working to restore power to the plaza.

“Me and my co-worker heard a loud bang, so I thought a car maybe hit the plaza, or the construction site across the road had an accident,” Chris Wolfe, who works in one of the nearby businesses that was evacuated said.

“We came outside, and noticed smoke coming out of the transformer in the parking lot. Then the fire trucks arrived and there was smoke coming out of the Dollarama, and I spoke to one of the fire crews and they said it was actually the HVAC unit on the roof that exploded which tripped the transformer I guess.”

As of publishing, power was out for 42 BC Hydro customers downtown, centered around Lansdowne Street between 5th and 6th Avenue, according to its outage map.

A number of businesses impacted appeared to be sending people home for the day as there is no estimated time as to when power could be restored.

– with files from Victor Kaisar

Crews are standing down. It was an HVAC unit that caused some smoke @KamFire says, though no fire.

Power is out to Dollarama and a few other businesses.@bchydro is on scene, and once the HVAC system is fixed, people will be allowed back in to the businesses. #Kamloops pic.twitter.com/fqyCeCy4ZY

— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) October 1, 2021