Nova Scotia plans review after some generators failed at public housing buildings during Fiona

When post-tropical storm Fiona knocked out power to Alderney Manor in Dartmouth, N.S., the people who live in the 198-unit public housing complex expected the backup generator on the roof to kick in.

But it didn't.

According to the Department of Housing, the automatic transfer switch failed, leaving the hundreds of people who live in the high-rise building without elevators, lights or electricity for 24 hours.

Paul LaFleche, the deputy minister of housing, noted the problems this week when asked what lessons his department had learned from the storm.

"We learned, for one, that the maintenance and supply of generators is a key issue in our public housing infrastructure," LaFleche told members of the province's community services committee. "We experienced some of that last year, but now we know it is a really critical issue."

He pledged that the department would examine what went wrong, fix it and come up with a more comprehensive policy on emergency backup measures for the nearly 2,000 public housing buildings the province owns.

"We will be looking to document our own issues with respect to generators in buildings with vulnerable residents," said LaFleche. "That was a learning experience."

According to information supplied to CBC by the department, 12 other public housing facilities also had generator troubles during or after the storm.

Most of the problems happened in buildings run by the Cobequid Housing Authority. The government body manages public housing in an area that stretches from Stewiacke to the New Brunswick border and from the Pictou County line to the start of the Annapolis Valley. 

At Remsheg Villa in Wallace, N.S., electricians had to replace a generator that was installed less than six months ago. It stopped working on the second day the power was out.

Backup generators also failed at:

At Hillside Villa in River Hebert, the propane tank that supplies fuel to the generator ran out after it developed a leak.

Batteries failed Great Village's seniors' building and Sunnybrook Manor in Shubenacadie. The Great Village facility also ran out of fuel.

The failure of the backup systems meant additional hardship for people who live in facilities supplied by wells. Their taps ran dry without power for the pumps.