Dozens of engineers won their race to restore heating to thousands of Huntly and Keith households yesterday ahead of looming amber weather warning for blizzards and ice.
Around 4,500 properties in the two towns woke up to find they had no hot water or heating available on Tuesday morning as a result of a problem with the gas supply.
The outage came amid freezing cold temperatures and icy conditions across the region, leaving many in the Aberdeenshire and Moray communities fearful for its most vulnerable, who are already contending with problems created by the pandemic.
However, thanks to the efforts of SGN engineers working around the clock to address the problem, the issue with the gas network was resolved and heating was restored just after lunchtime yesterday.
During the major incident, the communities came together, alongside their local councils, to make sure everyone that needed help was kept warm and fed with hot meals.
In Keith, Munish Tandon, director of the Keith Convenience Store, gifted free electric heaters for those feeling the freeze.
And Speyside tree service worker Sean McDonald offered to transport heaters bought online to those who required it while doing his rounds in the area.
Meanwhile in Huntly, the Larder sandwich shop on the town’s Gordon Street handed out free soup to those in need of warming up.
An outreach centre was established at the Linden Centre in Huntly, where residents could get free hot meals, get advice and pick up heaters to keep their properties warm during the outage.
Aberdeenshire Council ensured temporary heaters were installed at sheltered housing schemes in Huntly and with the more than 500 council house tenants in the area.
Moray Council also contacted its 450 council house tenants who were affected by the loss of heating.
Aberdeenshire Council leader Andy Kille paid tribute to the engineers and those in the communities who stepped up to protect those who were most at risk of hardship while the gas supply was gone.
He said: “First and foremost we have to thank all those who have been affected by the loss of gas supply for their patience and understanding during what has been a very challenging time for them, particularly given the freezing temperatures we are experiencing at the moment.
“But we must also thank everyone in the community for rallying round those affected, whether it was checking on elderly or vulnerable neighbours, supplying heaters, offering to make or distribute hot meals or providing assistance with the gas supply itself.
“Local resilience partners have worked closely with SGN over the last 24 hours to provide an effective co-ordinated response.
“I would also like to personally thank both our staff and all those from our partner agencies who put in a power of work behind the scenes yesterday, during the night and again today to ensure residents have been getting the support they required.”
Jordan and John from Supreme Group were the food van contractors brought in to hand out free hot meals and drinks at the Linden Centre in Huntly.
Yesterday, the pair from Glasgow were giving out burgers and other tasty treats to affected residents and to warm up the chilly SGN engineers, who had their dozens of work vans parked around the community.
Jordan said: “We’ve had a lot of workers come by, and a good few from affected households as well, and there has been a lot of positive feedback.
“We’ve been serving up macaroni and cheese, sausage hotpots, burgers, chips and all that, and everyone’s been enjoying it. Nobody can complain about some free food.”
As well as SGH engineers and council workers, police officers and even coastguard teams offered their support to help the Huntly and Keith residents through the chill.
Before SGN brought back the gas supply for all residents, it first prioritised restoring heating to vulnerable residents, hospitals and care homes.
After the problem was resolved, SGN delivered letters to all of the affected households with instructions on how to safely turn their gas back on.
In a statement, SGN said: “Thank you to everyone in Huntly and Keith for your patience while you’ve been without gas.
“We know it’s not been easy, and we’re extremely sorry for the disruption you’ve experienced.”
Gordon MP Richard Thomson praised the teams, saying: “A huge thanks needs to go to the SGN engineers who worked tirelessly to get everyone reconnected as they did.
“And there’s a huge amount of thanks that also needs to go out to everyone that stepped-up to respond to this incident, particularly Aberdeenshire Council, the emergency services, and all the volunteers from the towns and beyond who went above and beyond to make sure the vulnerable were safe and looked-after.
“It’s never a good time to lose your gas, but to do so in the middle of winter during some of the coldest temperatures of the year is horrible, so it could hardly have happened at a worse time.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone in the community who stepped-up and stepped forward.”
