Squirrel sparks Memorial Day power outages

A squirrel sparked power outages across the city of Blaine that lasted eight hours Memorial Day.

The power outages started around 8 a.m. May 31 after a squirrel climbed into a Puget Sound Energy (PSE) substation and made contact with a 12k volt busbar, which is used as a conductor in electrical substations, city of Blaine’s public works director Bernie Ziemianek said.

Fixing the power outages took longer than normal because many PSE workers were off work for Memorial Day, so PSE needed to assemble its off-duty crews and then it took about five hours of testing transformers and cables to get the system running again, Ziemianek said. One feeder provided power to Semiahmoo and the wastewater treatment plants so there wouldn’t be a problem with sewage, Ziemianek said. Local firefighters were also able to receive water, he said.

Ziemianek estimated the power outages affected about 4,200 residents within Blaine city limits.