ONTARIO, Ore. — People in Huntington, Oregon are without electricity as the Durkee Fire creeps closer to the city. Tuesday morning, the Idaho Power website said this was affecting about 540 customers. Since then, power has been restored to about 100 customers. As of Tuesday evening, crews are patrolling powerlines to make sure they're safe to turn back on.
On Tuesday, Idaho Power said they de-energized the powerline that serves Huntington in an effort to reduce hazards and keep fire response personnel safe. The utility company also said they don't have a restoration time, but they are communicating directly with the affected customers.
Idaho Power also said they provided Huntington with a generator to help support critical city services while the power is out. Specifically, the generator was for the city well to keep water flowing for drinking and fire suppression. As of early Tuesday evening, the power is restored to the city well, but Idaho Power is keeping the generator there in case the power is interrupted again.
To clarify, this outage is not part of Idaho Power's public safety power shutoff (PSPS) plan. That plan would go into effect during extreme weather conditions, like high winds, to help reduce the risk of fires starting.
Idaho Power elaborated the outage affecting Huntington Tuesday was also done for safety reasons, but it was further necessitated by fires already burning and getting closer to their powerlines.