After responding to more than 61,000 calls in 2025, BC Hydro says some were anything but ordinary.
On Tuesday (Dec. 30), BC Hydro released a list of its most memorable outages of the year, which included a rogue inflatable godzilla, a crow colliding with a transformer, noisy nature and two ospreys dropping fish onto power lines.
Dubbed “Godzilla in the grid,” BC Hydro says that after three major storms swept across B.C. in late December, the last one sent an inflatable Godzilla fly into hydro lines at a car dealership in Nanaimo. BC Hydro received a trouble call to safely remove it.
In May, a group of kids in Sidney practicing their casting skills accidentally hooked power lines and caused an outage for one customer. Crews had to remove to fishing lures and lines before restoring service.
Also in May was an “osprey oops.” In July, an osprey in Ashcroft dropped a fish onto a power line and sparking a small grass fire that led to an outage for 943 customers. BC Hydro says fire crews, hydro workers and local ranchers worked together to extinguish the blaze using 4,800 gallons of water.
But that wasn’t the only “osprey oops.” In August, another osprey – this time in Quesnel – dropped a fish onto a power line. Six customers were left without power and a pole needed to be replaced.
In May, a Kelowna BC Hydro customer reported “an alarming buzzing sound” after fearing a line issue. BC Hydro says that culprit was cicadas.
Then in July, a beaver is Horsefly brought down a large tree across multiple spans of wire, including a river crossing. BC Hydro says crews worked through “challenging conditions” to restore power to 375 customers.
And finally, in July, a crow collided with a transformer, knocked out an entire feeder and left 4,636 customers without power.
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