While most of us hunkered down in our homes
after last week's terrific storm, wondering when
the power was going to come back on, crews for
Northern Lights and for the City of Bonners
Ferry were out there working to actually bring
the power back on.
Just like everyone else last Wednesday, the
power crews were finishing up a full day's work
that evening. But just when they should have
been clocking out to
head home for the day, they were instead
clocking back in, and looking at a long night's
work ahead of them.
Crews were up all night, working to restore
power service to subscribers throughout Boundary
County. Crews from the City of Bonners Ferry
finished their overnight work by 5:30 a.m. the
following morning, grabbed a couple hours of
sl eep, then were back at it again to finish up
all of the last loose ends. Similar long hours
were also posted by Northern Lights crews.
Thousands
of Boundary County residents were without power
following the July 23 storm that swept rapidly
through the area. During the storm, wind gusts
were measured at Lake Pend Oreille at 70+ mph.
One report noted over 5,000 lightning strikes in
North Idaho and Eastern Washington. Rain poured
from the densely-clouded skies.
It was all over after about an hour or so, but
left significant damage behind. According
to Elissa Glassman, Communications/Conservation
Manager at Northern Lights, over 12,000 subscribers in
their entire service area were without power at
the height of the storm, including over 3,800
Northern Lights member households without power
in Boundary County. Northern Lights counted 20
broken power poles in Boundary County. According
to Northern Lights officials, this storm caused
the most damage to their equipment than any
event dating back to 1996.
One big problem for all power companies in the
area was damage done to the Bonneville Power
Administration Transmission line. This damage
caused five Northern Lights substations to be
without power. The BPA line damage also limited
the ability of Bonners Ferry City power to
restore full power to the Idaho Forest Group
Mill at Moyie Springs. Once Bonneville Power
returned the transmission line to service, the
City could then establish full power to the
mill, which occurred within about 24 hours
following the storm.
Thus was the size of the task set before the
power crews who went to work as the sun was
setting that same evening right after the storm,
and through the night to get everyone's power
back on.
City crews from Bonners Ferry, working through
the night, were able to restore service to
essentially all customers within 12 hours.
A lot of work was done on only a little sleep by
these dedicated power crews.
"Northern Lights line crews, along with numerous
contract line crews, worked around the clock for
stretches lasting up to 32 hours straight before
taking a mandatory 8 hours of rest," said
Northern Lights General Manager Annie
Terracciano. She added, "I would like to show
appreciation to all the spouses and families of
these hard-working employees, who only saw their
loved ones for a few short hours for days on
end."
Stephen Boorman, Bonners Ferry City
Administrator, stated, "I have always seen
utilities perform the best when things are the
worst and this was not an exception."
Mr. Boorman pointed out that power outages like
these cause other significant problems and
damage of which most of us are unaware. "When
these outages happen the impact on our
powerplant is significant," he stated. "Also,
there is a major impact to our water and sewer
system. Outages affect both our pumping system
and the automation system."
City of Bonners Ferry employees who worked late
into the night included: City Linemen Kevin
Cossairt, Brian Kerins, Cody Reichart; City
Mechanic Keith Fairchild, City Electrician Steve
Neumeyer, and the Street Crew--John Youngwirth,
Tim English, Scooter Drake, Eddy Invernon. The
Water/Sewer Operator working that night was John
Delaney, who also put in long hours. Powerplant
foreman Pat Stevens worked through the duration
of the outage. Kris Larson and Jean Diel of the
office staff came in late and stayed later to
help answer telephones and take calls.
"They did a stellar job," said Mr. Boorman.
"They worked smart and safely."
Thanks to all of their long hours and hard work,
and the work of the Northern Lights crews, we
are all once again enjoying (and taking for
granted) our modern world electrical power!
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