In the wake of a series of electrical issues at downtown highrises, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of tenants, “proactive” inspections were conducted at 240 Wellesley Street East on Thursday.

The work left residents without heat, water and electricity for about 24 hours while contractors examine the building’s electrical system.

The inspection comes after the launch of a city-wide “inspection blitz,” announced by Mayor John Tory last week in response to electrical issues at three St. James Town buildings, all belonging to the same owner.

The flood of problems started in August at 650 Parliament Street, where a six-alarm fire ravaged the electrical system and forced 1,500 residents out of their homes. Aside from a few trips to retrieve belongings, the tenants have not been able to return to the buildings, nor is it known with certainty when they will be able to.

Last month, a burst pipe sent water trickling into the electrical room of 260 Wellesley St. E., leaving nearly 1,000 residents without heat, electricity and water for days while crews worked on a fix.

At 280 Wellesley St. E., residents were without power for several days after a fault was found during a planned inspection of the building’s electrical system on Feb. 5.

Brenda Reid currently lives at 240 Wellesley. She was one of the many people from 650 Parliament who were forced to relocate after the fire.

Reid said one day without water and heat is a small price to pay to prevent a repeat of what happened at her previous building.

“They have to, they have to… I’m so glad they’re being very proactive about it,” she told CP24. “They need to be proactive about it because there’s a lot more people than 1,500 people in these towers, there are more floors.”

Tenants of 650 Parliament who want to maintain their lease will continue to receive housing assistance from the city until April 2019, when repairs are expected to be completed.

Reid, however, isn’t confident about the move-in date.

“Back in January we were told that it would be April, and now they’re saying May, so the timeline seems to be shifting all the time,” she said. “But again, there’s no communication about that, even on the websites or anything like that, so it’s a waiting game.”

Other tenants expressed dismay about the timing of the inspection.

“They gave us less than a week’s notice,” one tenant, who did not provide his name, said. “I haven’t prepared. I have nothing. I’m probably going to be showering at the office.”

“It’s definitely an inconvenience,” said another. “They should’ve done this before, not in the wintertime.”

Danny Roth, a representative from property manager Medallion Properties, classified the inspections as “urgent,” but acknowledged that there will never be a good time to turn off power for hours.

“We would’ve faced criticism, frankly, whenever we chose to do this,” Roth said.

“If I’m going to be criticized, I’d rather be criticized for being too proactive and treating this too urgently than being too lax.”

Some 240 Wellesley residents opted to spend a night at a hotel during the outage – paid for by the landlord – while others opted to stay in their units.

Security and paramedics were stationed at the building until the work was completed to ensure the health and safety of all tenants, particularly the most vulnerable or those with mobility issues.

The Wellesley Community Centre was also open to residents for showers and to power electronic devices while the outage was in effect.

The inspections, which were conducted by the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), began at 9 a.m.

While launching the inspection blitz, Tory said the “lack of preventative maintenance” on the part of the landlords is “unacceptable.”

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam will be holding a community meeting Thursday night for St. James Town residents impacted by building issues. The meeting will discuss tenants’ legal rights in Toronto, provide information about the city’s RentSafeTO program, as well as provide updates about building inspections in the neighbourhood.

Wong-Tam said the largely informational meeting will set aside an hour for residents to ask a “panel of experts” questions.

“We know that tenants will have more power if they are organized,” she told CP24.

“We understand that they are not necessarily organized right now but they have been asking, how do they get more say, how do they communicate better with their landlords. So the stakeholders that are coming from the community are hoping to specifically provide that information to them so that they can show them that there is more strength to them working together as opposed to fractured individual conversations.”

The meeting is scheduled to be held at 8 p.m. at the Wellesley Community Centre at 465 Sherbourne Street.