Animal knocks out power to West Plains customers

Over 3,000 electricity customers lost power this morning (Thursday, Aug. 13) due to the return of a past foe of all-things electrical equipment — the tiny squirrel.

Cheney Light Department Director Steve Boorman said a squirrel managed to find its way into a piece of equipment at the city’s main substation along Cheney-Plaza Road, the result of which knocked out power to both Cheney and Inland Power and Light customers. The outage, which occurred at 7:38 a.m., deprived over 2,500 customers in Cheney and 676 Inland Power customers in Edwall, Sprague, Spokane and unincorporated areas of Spokane County.

Power was restored at 8:38 a.m. Boorman said a surge arrester was damaged and replaced.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.