Raven rampage cuts power to 1,600 in Wyoming town
Raven rampage cuts power to 1,600 in Wyoming townBy JEREMY FUGLEBERG Star-Tribune energy reporter trib.com | Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011 12:30 pm | No Comments Posted
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A raven which somehow made its way into an electricity substation cut power to more than 1,600 customers in Worland for several hours Tuesday night.
The bird's damage to the Rocky Mountain Power substation chopped power to the utility's customers in the southern part of Worland and to the south of the town at 8:43 p.m., said utility spokeswoman Margaret Ohler.
"Our folks repaired that damage and all Rocky Mountain Power customers were restored at 10:39 pm," she said.
The outage also affected some other electricity users in the area who were not Rocky Mountain Power customers, but Ohler said she wasn't sure of the number.
It was the second outage for Worland in six weeks. On July 4, a wind storm knocked down three power poles in the area, cutting power to 10 customers for more than a day.
Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen said it's not unusual for animals to seek out warm places, which can include transformers and substations.
While the company tries to avoid any animal-related problems for both animal safety and outage concerns, incidents do happen, including in substations, he said.
"Substations are a little more difficult," he said. "If they touch two of the wrong things at the same moment, they complete the circuit."
So what happened to the raven that cut power to Worland?
"When that happens, they do not survive," Eskelsen said.
Reach Jeremy Fugleberg at 307-266-0623 or jeremy.fugleberg@trib.com. Read his blog at http://trib.com/news/opinion/blogs/boom/ and follow him on Twitter: @jerenegy.
Posted in State-and-regional, Energy, Updates on Thursday, August 11, 2011 12:30 pm | Tags: Electric Power, Electrical Substation, Power Outage, Margaret Ohler, Pacificorp, Dave Eskelsen, Rocky Mountain Power, Raven, Electricity, Jeremy Fugleberg
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Thursday, August 11, 2011
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