COLUMN: What a Columbia Valley power outage taught me about preparedness

Until last Sunday, Aug. 2, I’d never seriously considered packing spare food, cash, fuel or a satellite phone on road trips.
That changed after I found myself among nearly 18,000 East Kootenay residents living between Golden and Canal Flats who had lost power due to wildfire-related damage to BC Hydro’s transmission systems.
I set out the day before for Radium Hot Springs to explore Kootenay National Park. I’d never been south of Golden, making the experience full of excitement