UPDATE: Electrical power was restored to all customers in Forks by 9:28 p.m. Monday. The cause of the secondary power outage was a downed line.
CARLSBORG — Electrical power was restored to most of the West End by Monday evening after equipment malfunctioned at the Sappho Substation and left thousands in the dark earlier in the day.
Power to the Joyce area was restored at about 2:40 p.m. Monday, said Mike Howe, communications manager at Clallam County Public Utility District.
Power was restored to the rest of the West End, extending out to Neah Bay — some 5,400 PUD customers — as of 6:48 p.m. Monday, according to Howe.
However, Howe said that when power was restored, some customers in the Forks area lost power shortly therafter.
As of Monday evening, PUD crews were responding and working to determine the cause and number of customers without power in the Forks area.
The initial outage originally affected an estimated 5,347 customers.
Howe said Monday evening that the PUD was still waiting to hear from Bonneville Power Administration on exactly what caused the outage.
“We’re coping. When the power goes out it’s not the first time out here,” said Forks Mayor Brian Monohon on Monday afternoon during the outage.
“It just came at an unusual time” — in the summer during clear weather rather than during a storm.
Electricity went out at about 1:44 p.m. at the Bonneville Power Administration station at Sappho, Howe said.
BPA experienced “equipment issues,” he said. He did not know the details of the problem.
Monohon said the outage itself was unusual. It was preceded by a 10-second brown-out.
“It’s actually just kind of mellow on the whole,” the mayor said. “I just drove around town and some businesses are closed, not all, and it has this Saturday-Sunday feeling about it.”
In Clallam Bay-Sekiu, most businesses closed after the outage, said Fire Chief Tricia Hutson of Fire District 5.
The fire station and repeaters were on generators, so emergency calls could be received, she said.
To report an outage in a different location, call 360-452-9771 or 800-542-7859.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
