I'm in Whistler and wow there is a lot of misinformation out there. This is a pretty serious fire. The fire was 75 hectares, which is a fair size and it was a rank 4 fire, on a scale of 6, also it was not contained an hour after it started, in fact it is still not contained. However, they hit it pretty hard yeasterday and it's down to 30 hectares and is now a rank 2 fire. If you want more info, go here: http://bcwildfire.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/OneFire.asp?ID=288

The question is how did the water get into the tower, not why wasn't the tower designed for this kind of weather. The towers are designed for this kind of weather and are seeled so that water does not get into them. Every tower of every lift on both mountains has now received two inspections as a result of this incident and all have been given the green light