Downtown power outage believed to be caused by copper wire theft

Hamilton police believe an early-morning power outage in the city’s downtown core on Wednesday was caused by an attempted copper wire theft.

Fire crews were called to the intersection at King Street and East Avenue after receiving reports of smoke coming from an open manhole around 2:30 a.m.

Witnesses in the area took to social media, saying they saw several people crawl up from the sewer moments before smoke began to billow up from under the street.

Officials say there was no fire threat or rescue needed when they arrived, and they did not locate anyone inside the manhole. No injuries were reported and no suspects have been identified.

Police estimate that damage to the affected copper wire is around $500.

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