For More Information Contact:
Joe Harwood, 541-685-7471
Eugene Water & Electric Board

April 28, 2011

EWEB quickly restores power after downtown outage

A power outage affecting a large area of downtown Eugene on Thursday morning apparently was caused by a Great Blue Heron making contact with a transmission line in Alton Baker Park.

A witness in the park at the time reported seeing a Great Blue Heron take flight, followed immediately by a bright flash. The 8:49 a.m. flashover created a power outage to the Willamette Substation, which feeds downtown Eugene.

EWEB troubleshooters responded just after 9 a.m. to determine the cause of the outage. After making sure the transmission line was safe, line crews began restoring service to customers.

Most customers had their power restored by 9:43 a.m. Portions of the downtown electrical network remained without power until about 10 a.m., when crews fully restored the network.

The outage briefly affected the University of Oregon. Other large institutions affected include the Lane County Jail, Lane County Public Service Building, the Eugene City Hall and EWEB’s headquarters.

Approximately 3,450 customers lost power during the outage.