Pacific Power restores power to thousands after public safety shutoff

PORTLAND, Ore. – We’re hearing more about Pacific Power’s planned “public safety shutoffs” that happened this weekend.

On Friday, the company launched it’s first-ever planned public safety shutoff in Oregon.

The shutoff impacted about 12,000 customers across the state including some in Douglas County.

According to Pacific Power, the combination of dry fuels, low humidity and record-low precipitation in August was a big reason for the shutoffs.

The company said the shutoffs were successful and those affected had power restored by Saturday.

“We were able to stage those crews in those high-risk areas, so once the weather was out of that region and was safe to do so, we were ready to get rolling on it,” Pacific Power spokesperson Drew Hanson said. “So really an all hands on deck sort of event.”

Portland General Electric shut off power to 30,000 customers due to weather concerns as well.

With weather conditions improving, Pacific Power said they currently do not have any planned shutoffs scheduled.