Alberta hamlet urged to conserve natural gas during cold snap
The gas supplier for the northern Alberta hamlet of Fort Vermilion asked its largest customers Friday to cut back on gas usage during the cold snap because the community could soon run out.
As a result the school district sent home 1,300 students.
"In the history of the gas co-op we have never seen the pressure this low," said John Klassen who speaks for Northern Lights Natural Gas Co-Op.
A number of Alberta towns and cities are under severe cold and weather warnings.
Some will see the mercury hit -40 C Friday night keeping many indoors and cranking their thermostats.
Some customers alerted the gas co-op to the dropping gas pressure Friday morning.
The co-op called the local school district and explained the issue.
The Fort Vermilion School Division decided to send home the "happy" students at lunch time.
"We are a fairly large user of natural gas, as you can imagine, with schools and large buildings," superintendent Roger Clarke said.
The gas supplier also reached out to the area's saw mills and asked them to shut down their burners and kilns.
That seems to be helping, Klassen said, and levels have stabilized for its 3,500 customers.
The company gets its gas from a southern Alberta pipeline and will be monitoring the situation over the weekend, hoping students can return to class on Monday.
