Electric co-ops work to repair damages, restore power after fires
WILLISTON – More than 315 customers of Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative remained without power as of late afternoon on Monday, as work recovery efforts continued in the aftermath of a weekend wind storm and wildfires.
“We aim to restore power to most members by the end of the week,” the cooperative announced in a statement Monday. “Our hearts go out to our MWEC members and neighbors that lost so much.”
Throughout Monday, more than 100 Mountrail-Williams Electric staff, contractors and neighboring cooperatives came together to restore power to members. There had been 334 services remaining without power Sunday night.
Mountrail-Williams estimated about 370 utility poles were damaged and 1,759 services were impacted initially. The numbers are expected to change as crews continue to assess damage and restore power to members.
Matt Hanson, CEO at McKenzie Electric, said about 4% of the cooperative’s system had intermittent outages over the weekend. Less than a dozen members were without power as of Monday morning, but work remained to repair damage left by the fires.
Hundreds of electric poles and more than 20 transmission poles were damaged, Hanson said, noting there continued to be fluidity around the numbers as the system is evaluated. A process to make the repairs already is in place, though.
“We are just following our emergency response plan,” Hanson said.
“We are kind of treating this like another winter storm,” he added. “Fire is a little bit different than ice, but we are treating it very similar.”
The cooperative has been working closely with emergency responders, who have been doing an amazing job, he said.
McKenzie Electric has contractors it regularly relies on when needed, and those contractors are being called on to help repair damaged lines. A cooperative member who is a pilot flew aerial surveillance to help assess line damage, and other members have offered drone assistance if needed, Hanson said.
Even as fire crews put down the threat, Hanson said the dry conditions that have existed the past few months continue to create a heightened alert. As a result, the cooperative is monitoring its undamaged areas as well as evaluating damages to the system.
McLean Electric had minimal damage and it was typical of problems that occur during high winds, said General Manager Mark Doyle. There were outages throughout the service area, but they generally were short, he said. Additional outages in the area related to issues Otter Tail Power faced with its system.
Portions of a building roof in Garrison blew off, and one of the large tin pieces cut a power line, Otter Tail spokesperson Stephanie Hoff reported. Employees had to wait for the wind to die down before they could isolate the issue, due to the hazards associated with flying debris. After restoring power to most of the impacted customers in Garrison, only four remaining customers were without power overnight, she said.
Roughrider Electric, whose membership includes Dunn County, was fortunate to have had minimal impact, said Leonard Hibl, director of Key Accounts for the cooperative. Two small fires were immediately extinguished, although three poles did burn, he said. A tree also fell on a line due to high winds.
Roughrider sent five linemen and several trucks on Monday to assist Mountrail-Williams Electric. Also sending assistance were Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative, Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Cooperative and Mid-Yellowstone Electric Cooperative, according to information from Mountrail-Williams.