If you heard explosions in Portage la Prairie on Monday, no need to worry. It was Manitoba Hydro fixing towers in our area.

Media Relations Assistant Riley McDonald says it has to do with an implosion sleeve.

"When we want to splice a line together, to connect two lines together, we use a thing called an implosion sleeve which is a metal sleeve that goes around the two cables and it's got some explosives on it," says McDonald. "Explosives are detonated and the sleeve implodes and that crimps the lines together, essentially. That's the loud bang you heard."

McDonald notes it's a very common technique, because of how much easier it makes the work. Considering the amount of towers that need to be fixed in our area, it's no wonder they prefer using an implosion sleeve.

"We've used it on lots of transmission lines. Other utilities across North America use it as well. It's way more efficient than the old method because you can do several lines at a time," says McDonald. "Implosion sleeves take maybe an hour and the previous method of compressing using machines would take five or six."

McDonald notes more work still has to be done and you will likely hear more booms, soon.

"In the area, there will be a few more here and there. We've notified the RCMP, City of Portage la Prairie and Long Plain First Nation of this," says McDonald. "If you hear it, it's a pretty good chance it's us, because we do have to fix a lot of towers in that area."

McDonald says more implosion splicing is set for today and tomorrow.

You can learn more about implosion splicing here.