ntrolled blackout for four hours early Sunday morning, without any reported problems.

According to BC Hydro spokesperson Steve Higginbottom, crews finished all the necessary work at the Seventh and Cedar substation ahead of schedule and restored power an hour earlier than expected at 3:51 a.m.

“Everything went well,” he said. “At this point there are no other planned outages.”

Despite being left in the dark, there weren’t any major problems reported and everything ran smoothly at the Emergency Operation Centre, according to fire chief and Mission’s emergency preparedness coordinator Ian Fitzpatrick.

“The power went off as scheduled and we powered up the EOC just prior to it,” said Fitzpatrick, who noted there were a number of alarms ringing when the power was cut, but that was anticipated.

Throughout the night there were a few medical calls, which the rescue duty crew assisted with as they were already at the station. There was also a car fire which was put out without any problems.

“We made sure any vehicle responding to a call was going out with the lights on,” said Fitzpatick, adding everyone approaching an intersection treated it as a four-way stop.

There weren’t any signs on the streets directing drivers what procedures to take, but the roads were mostly quiet, noted the fire chief. There were, however, a number of people spotted walking around town and along the dikes to see the city in the dark.

The EOC operated like it would in a real emergency, giving the district a chance to exercise its plan.

Amateur Radio Club, Search and Rescue and Emergency Social Services were activated that night and the Salvation Army was set up to feed everyone.

“We generally call them to support us in major fires,” noted Fitzpatrick.

ESS, which usually sets up at the Leisure Centre, was at the Play Station instead because it has a generator.

The EOC shut down around 4:05 a.m. Sunday morning.