{"id":101266,"date":"2026-01-20T08:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=101266"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:14:14","slug":"firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\/","title":{"rendered":"Firearms damage found near power line that failed, causing outage: Manitoba Hydro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Brittany Hobson A preliminary examination into a days-long power outage that led to a water catastrophe at a northern First Nation found firearm damage near the power line, Manitoba Hydro said Monday. The Crown-owned utility said an inspection of the wire that broke at the end of last month in Pimicikamak Cree Nation showed shotgun pellet damage to portions of the infrastructure, including the power line. Several aerial markers used to alert aircraft were damaged due to shotgun pellets. Manitoba Hydro said while it hasn&#8217;t been determined pellets caused the line to break, the utility is warning hunters and other firearm owners that shooting at electrical infrastructure can shorten its lifespan, cause outages and create safety risks. Hydro workers have seen damage to infrastructure such as transformers, insulators and&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F20%2Ffirearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brittany Hobson A preliminary examination into a days-long power outage that led to a water catastrophe at a northern First Nation found firearm damage near the power line, Manitoba Hydro said Monday. The Crown-owned utility said an inspection of the wire that broke at the end of last month in Pimicikamak Cree Nation showed shotgun pellet damage to portions of the infrastructure, including the power line. Several aerial markers used to alert aircraft were damaged due to shotgun pellets. Manitoba Hydro said while it hasn&#8217;t been determined pellets caused the line to break, the utility is warning hunters and other firearm owners that shooting at electrical infrastructure can shorten its lifespan, cause outages and create safety risks. Hydro workers have seen damage to infrastructure such as transformers, insulators and... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F20%2Ffirearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Firearms damage found near power line that failed, causing outage: Manitoba Hydro - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Firearms damage found near power line that failed, causing outage: Manitoba Hydro - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brittany Hobson A preliminary examination into a days-long power outage that led to a water catastrophe at a northern First Nation found firearm damage near the power line, Manitoba Hydro said Monday. The Crown-owned utility said an inspection of the wire that broke at the end of last month in Pimicikamak Cree Nation showed shotgun pellet damage to portions of the infrastructure, including the power line. Several aerial markers used to alert aircraft were damaged due to shotgun pellets. Manitoba Hydro said while it hasn&#8217;t been determined pellets caused the line to break, the utility is warning hunters and other firearm owners that shooting at electrical infrastructure can shorten its lifespan, cause outages and create safety risks. Hydro workers have seen damage to infrastructure such as transformers, insulators and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T13:14:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Firearms damage found near power line that failed, causing outage: Manitoba Hydro\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T13:14:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":516,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/firearms-damage-found-near-power-line-that-failed-causing-outage-manitoba-hydro\\\/\",\"name\":\"Firearms damage found near power line that failed, causing outage: Manitoba Hydro - 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