Bird likely cause of Moses Lake outage

MOSES LAKE — A bird that got too close to electrical wires apparently triggered a power outage in the Wheeler Road area that lasted about two hours Thursday morning.

“A bird touched an energized component in the (Wheeler substation) while also in contact with a grounded component. This caused a distribution fault and the protective relay system operated to interrupt and clear the fault,” wrote Christine Pratt, PUD public information officer, in reply to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. 

The outage occurred around 8:30 a.m., and electricity was restored around 10 a.m.