Tales From Our Agents

	Tiny library (notice the locate markings on the ground) photo courtesy of Brad Watson.

You probably heard about the recent bizarre and uniquely Canadian situation where a beaver chewed through a crucial fibre cable causing "extensive" damage. The busy Canadian icon’s chomping took out internet service for about 900 customers in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. and photos from the site appeared to show the beavers using Telus materials to build their home. Telus fully restored service by 3:30 p.m.

The Great Beaver Caper sparked some online conversations at AOC and when you process over 400,000 locate requests every year, you’re bound to have a few gems in the mix. Here are a few locate requests that have stood out over the years.

We received a rural area locate request and during the documentation process, the excavator told us he was “digging a grave”. There was a pause on our end when the excavator, realizing what he had said, continued, “…one of my horses died and I need to bury her.” 

In 2007, a rancher decided that "pounding in" fence posts didn’t require a locate request because he wasn’t "digging". The rancher ended up striking and damaging an H2S pipeline and was charged accordingly. Had the pipeline been punctured and the gas released, the escaping gas would’ve likely asphyxiated the rancher.

A homeowner once called in to place a locate, not because they were doing any excavation, but because their dog was a notorious digger and as much as they tried to stop the dog from digging, it continued doing so. The homeowners submitted their locate request to identify those areas of their yard with buried utilities and block them off from the dog.

A gentlemen called in a locate request because he was creating a full-scale replica of WW1 trenches on his farm.

And an all time AOC favourite…

An elderly gentleman contacted AOC before installing a little community library in front of his home for his wife. He told our agent that his wife wasn’t as mobile as she once and missed meeting new people. He hoped the library would attract impromptu visitors for her to meet and chat with.