Most people have a lot to learn about how squirrels can cause a blackout like the one that hit many homes in Leslieville and the east lakeshore Thursday. Andrew M. Smith is the go-to man it seems on how this occurs. On Facebook he has made a number of posts Friday explaining how sometimes a squirrel merely causes the lights to blink, but sometimes, total outage. He says “usually the squirrel gets fried and jumps/falls off the wires, so all you get is a quick power off/power back on thing. It’s when the squirrel short circuits the wires and stays in place that causes the bigger, longer blackouts. The squirrel causes a major short circuit and will continue to do so until it is removed. In 2018, Toronto had had about 60 major squirrel outages.” Another post reads ” I’m sorry, but I started chuckling as soon as I read EE’s lead ‘freaking squirrel’. Now I can’t stop, having read others following up. Poor squirrel. But they really are not that bright.” .
