When it comes to helping the city out of its latest brush with misfortune, the province says it has Calgary’s back.

That’s the message Premier Jim Prentice had Monday as he visited city residents displaced by Saturday’s electrical fire that cut power to thousands of downtown customers, telling reporters the province will do what it can to help Calgary deal with its third large-scale emergency in just over a year.

“We’ve had more than our share of bad luck,” he said, noting specific discussions with city officials about disaster relief money are set to take place within the next few days.

“The focus right now are the people who are out of their homes, and making sure everybody is safe.”

The concern about who will foot the bill is being asked at all levels of government.

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While the fire’s cause has yet to be determined, questions are being raised about the city’s eligibility for assistance under existing provincial disaster relief legislation if it isn’t determined to be a natural disaster.

The blackout is the latest emergency to hit the city, with last summer’s flood and September’s tree-destroying snow storm still being dealt with by local officials.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he’s more concerned with dealing with immediate concerns rather than asking the province how much money the city’s entitled to receive.

“That’s a really important question, and one to which I really don’t have an answer,” he said, adding both the premier and Municipal Affairs Minister Diana McQueen told him during informal discussions that the province is willing to lend a hand.

“We had a bit of a conversation here in the EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) yesterday about cash flow, and my answer was to spend the money we need to spend, keep people safe and get people home — we’ll figure out how to deal with the money at some point in the future.”

bryan.passifiume@sunmedia.ca

On twitter: @SUNbryanpass