Sunday, February 16, 2014
9:00 AM
Linemen cleared the toppled tree from the Green Lake transmission line, and had all of Sitka re-powered sometime after 10 PM last night.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
9:50 PM
The Electric Department confirms that a fallen tree on the Green Lake transmission line is the source of tonight’s outage. Linemen are working on that issue, and checking the rest of the line for potential problems. About half of Sitka is currently being powered by the Jarvis St. Diesel plant. Operators are working to resolve a control panel issue at the Blue Lake, but should have that plant up and running — and the rest of Sitka powered — within a half-hour to forty-five minutes. Since we’re running on backup power, the Electric Department is urging Sitkans to conserve as much as possible, in order to provide power to the entire town.
9:35 PM
Power has been restored downtown.
9:25 PM
Power has been restored along parts of Sawmill Creek Road, in the Biorka St. area.
9:05 PM
Sitka’s Electric Department is scrambling to fire up the Jarvis Street diesel generators, after all of Sitka lost power at approximately 8:10 this evening. Blue Lake plant operator Frank Rogers says that this afternoon’s heavy snowfall likely toppled a tree onto the main transmission line from the Green Lake powerhouse. Linemen are currently en route to investigate. Rogers says that crews observed several large trees down along the drive out to Blue Lake, leading to speculation that the cause of tonight’s troubles is a fallen tree. Right now, crews are spinning up the Jarvis St. diesel generators. Once they’re running, they’ll put Blue Lake back on line, and most of Sitka should have power.