Power outage zaps Sisters

A fire in the green electrical power box at the corner of Hood Avenue and Pine Street on Monday, July 4, caused a power outage that affected scattered parts of Sisters.

According to Jim Crowell of Central Electric Cooperative, a piece of "termination equipment" in the box burned, with enough rubber in the mix of combustibles to generate a sizable cloud of smoke. The cause of the fire is not yet known, Crowell said.

The problem at the feeder box "caused a breaker back in the Tollgate substation to open - as it should," Crowell said.

The substation emergency disconnection took down power in Crossroads, at Sisters High School, ThreeWind Shopping Center and at businesses and residences on the south end of Sisters.

The outage occurred at about 9 a.m.

"By switching around and dumping onto other feeders we were able to isolate the problem and loop around it and we got everybody back on about 11 a.m.," Crowell said.

The CEC repair crew decided not to repair the problem on July 4, since it would likely require taking the power down again. The repair was to be undertaken later in the week, according to Crowell.