Regardless, the USask team in facilities quickly jumped into action as emergency power kicked in. It wasn’t long after that SaskPower informed them that a collision on 8th Street had cut out the main line that provides power to the university.



“Once the team learned which line was affected, we knew we were in for a long night,” said Wade Epp, associate vice-president, services. The team of facilities experts was quickly called in to manage and maintain emergency power across campus, supporting life-safety systems and critical research infrastructure.



“When something like this happens, our first thought is always safety,” said Epp. “At our Saskatoon campus, that not only includes the safety of our students, staff, faculty and research animals, but also the patients at Royal University Hospital and Jim Pattison’s Children Hospital.”



The university’s emergency power supports a number of buildings, including the heating plant which provides heat and steam to over eight million square feet of building space across campus. That includes the hospitals on campus, which do have their own backup generators, but still rely on USask for heating their buildings and for the steam to sterilize equipment.



“Our team knows the importance of the services we provide, but it’s not until events like these that you really feel what’s at stake,” said Epp.



Throughout the night and into the early morning, the facilities team managed the heating and cooling of USask buildings as well as campus affiliates like Agri-Food Canada and the National Research Council. Animal research facilities were monitored closely, more than 40 emergency generators were continuously checked and refueled, and a 16,000-pound backup generator was moved to an area that needed additional power.



“The number of tasks that had to be accomplished was huge,” said Epp, “but for me the most impressive thing was seeing the level of teamwork within the crew. Not only were they anticipating the needs of the systems and buildings, they were anticipating each other’s needs. Fatigue is a serious concern in situations like these. They worked together to ensure everyone was managing throughout the night and into the morning as we powered back up.”



