Pole fire knocks out power in Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan

A brief regionwide blackout across Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg last week started with a spark.

When a power pole in Ketchikan caught fire due to a failed insulator, the line was isolated so the fire could be extinguished - but removing the large load of Ketchikan's power from the grid overloaded two major hydroelectric facilities in Southeast, causing them to go offline and resulting in a complete loss of power in all three communities.

Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg get much of their electricity from hydropower projects owned by the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). SEAPA owns...

 

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