Thousands of people remain without power across Oregon Wednesday, some due to existing wildfires and some as a pre-emptive attempt to prevent additional wildfires.
Updated 9/9 at 12:00 p.m.
Lane Electric reports 30% of its lines have been surveyed and power is restored at their Oakridge substation. Crews continue to work and bring back power in other areas. They will assess the red flag fire danger again this evening to determine if power should be shut off overnight once more for safety. If they do so, they hope to hold out until at least 8 p.m.
EWEB says power in Walterville, Hayden Bridge and Camp Creek will remain off today. They will restore power as soon as lines are inspected and it’s safe to re-energize.
Original story 9/9 at 7:00 a.m.
The Lane Electric Coopertive reports crews hope to use the calm and cool hours of the morning to restore power to lines, but they note that crew safety is their top priority. High risk areas, such as those that are particularly remote and heavily wooded, will likely remain de-energized throughout the day and certainly as long as the red flag warnings remains in place.
Eugene Water and Electric Board is also experiencing widespread outages along the McKenzie River corridor and in some parts of Eugene. Their crews were demobilized overnight but were back Wednesday morning working to restore power. Emerald People’s Utility District shut off power to Marcola and Mohawk Valley after a Level 3 evacuation notice was issued on Tuesday evening.
Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative crews were back at work Wednesday morning and are optimistic that the weather forecast will bring favorable conditions for restoring power. On Tuesday, the company used a “Public Safety Power Shutoff” which is part of their fire mitigation plan. The windstorm that swept through the region on Monday night caused hundreds of trees and limbs to fall on power lines throughout their service area, which includes areas east of Junction City to Deadwood and south to Highway 126.
Consumer's Power reports thousands of outages. They serve Benton, Lincoln & Linn counties, and some of Lane, Marion and Polk counties.
