Cold Lake, AB – A sewage flow control cabinet was set on fire on Jan. 8, 2025, north of 54 Avenue, resulting in its complete demise.

“We are devastated and frustrated by this level of deliberate destruction,” said Mayor Craig Copeland. “It’s clear the infrastructure was targeted for some reason, but we can only make guesses as to why. Everything is destroyed.”

The control cabinet monitors surges in sanitary sewer flow coming out of the Forest Heights and Tri-City Estate areas. Without it, the residents of these areas are at a higher risk of experiencing sewage back-ups.

“Control cabinets and infrastructure like this can’t just be replaced overnight,” said Copeland. “Staff will be looking to monitoring these surge levels manually until the controls and monitoring systems can be replaced.”

Although there are no sewer surges anticipated at this time, residents in the Forest Heights and Tri-City Estates areas are asked to be aware and watch for backflow in any lower-level bathrooms.

The area in which the control box is located has been a popular site for homeless camps, which Municipal Enforcement teams have been actively removing in recent weeks.

Replacing the control system is expected to cost upwards of $20,000 and there is no current timeline on when all the parts will be replaced. The fire incident is still under investigation.

- 30 -