Power outages affect hundreds in Moses Lake and Ephrata on Sunday

MOSES LAKE – On Sunday morning at around 10 a.m., Grant Public Utility District announced there was a power outage affecting nearly 300 customers in the Ephrata and Winchester area. An outage later in the day impacted more than 700 residences on the Moses Lake peninsula later in the day.

When crews arrived at the scene of the Ephrata outage, it was discovered there was a pole fire, which Grant PUD’s Public Information Officer Christine Pratt said was likely caused by weather.  

“This is kind of a complicated thing, but what happens is when we get some rain, after a long dry spell, during the dry spell, dirt and dust and other things accumulate on power lines and posts. The dust settles on the components, such as the (insulated metal connection hardware),” Pratt said. “Then, when they become wet with just a little bit of rain, the metal components of the posts can become conductive. The attachment hardware is not intended to be electrified, so under those circumstances, they create heat and if it is paired with a pole that is really dry, it could catch fire.” 

By around noon, there was still one irrigation customer affected, and power had been restored to all but one customer. The PUD said there was still one irrigation customer who was impacted by the pole fire. The utility district needed to replace the pole, which took them around five hours and power was restored to the final client at around 5 p.m.  

However, at around 7 p.m., there was another outage in the Moses Lake Peninsula area, affecting approximately 700 customers.  

The cause remains undetermined, according to Pratt. However, she said there was a heavy downpour in Moses Lake when the outage began, so there is an assumption that the weather had some role in the outage.  

Moses Lake Fire Department responded to the outage to keep residents away from downed power lines, according to MLFD Battalion Chief Dave Holle. 

“The PUD is going to show up to do what they need to do to fix things,” Holle said. “But in the meantime ... we get there to be able to secure the scene to keep the general public away from the hot power lines that could injure folks.” 

By around 10:30 p.m., crews had restored power to around 600 customers. The remaining 100 customers residing on Schneirla Avenue, Barbara Avenue, Basin Street and Spruce Street had to wait around two more hours for power to return. Then at around 1:30 a.m., the PUD conducted a five-minute additional outage to complete the repairs. Power was then restored to all customers in the area.

If residents believe they are being impacted by an outage, Pratt recommends they reach out to the Grant PUD outage line at 800-216-5226. 

“We have someone that can help at that line, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Pratt said.  

Editor's Note: This story has been updated throughout.

    First responders are on scene on South Barbara Avenue Sunday helped keep area residents away from downed power lines.