December 2, 2022 |
Thursday’s strong winds knocked out electricity for over an hour to some Carbon Power and Light members at the south end of the Platte Valley, including the Town of Encampment. The outage forced the K-12 school there to close early.
Carbon Power & Light’s General Manager, Russell Waldner, explained what happened along the power lines between Saratoga and Encampment.
Power went out around 11:30 a.m. Crews found and repaired the issue by 12:45 p.m., restoring power. Waldner said wind caused an insulator tie on a power pole to fail, resulting in two of the wires touching.
The Carbon Power & Light General Manager said electrical circuits in the area are interconnected. As a result, when problem occurs in one of the lines, the entire grid loses power. He explained how the failure occurred south of Saratoga.
Much of the electrical power infrastructure that Carbon Power & Light operates and maintains stretches across remote sections of Albany and Carbon County. When an outage occurs, CP&L crews often endure harsh conditions to repair difficult-to-reach equipment. Waldner said yesterday was no different.
Carbon Power & Light workers had the power back on in a little over an hour.
At 11:38am, the Encampment K-12 School announced it was releasing students and closing at 1 p.m. Even though the power was back on before then, they still ended their day early. Ronda Martin, the school’s office aide, explained why.
Carbon Power & Light crews were able to have things back up and running in a little over an hour, but not before Encampment K-12 School shut down for the day. Friday is a normal off day. School will resume, as normal, on Monday.
