Up to half of 18,000 Jefferson County Public Utility District power customers lost electricity in the Dec. 11 wind storm, making it the biggest outage since the PUD took over from Puget Sound Energy in 2013.

PUD Manager Jim Parker said Monday, Dec. 15 the cost to hire five extra crews “will be over $250,000 easily.” In addition to three crews from Michel's Power, based in Brownsville, Wisconsin, the PUD also asked for and received help from Mason County Public Utility District 3, which dispatched two crews to restore power in Jefferson County.

As he had estimated on Dec. 12, Parker said Monday it did take those crews until Sunday night to get everyone back up with heat and lights.

Parker estimated half of all customers were without power for about two hours Thursday night, at the height of the storm, which started around 8 p.m.

A few customers in Gardiner – it's not certain how many – were without power from Thursday night until Sunday night, Parker said.

“There are lessons learned. We need to spend more money on infrastructure and we need to do more automation and do more underground when possible,” Parker said.

“I think ultimately we did pretty good. We planned ahead. We didn't run out of materials and we kept in pretty good communications with everyone,” Parker said.

When the first storm of the three forecasted storms hit Dec. 9, Parker said a crew from Michel's that had been on Orcas Island was summoned to Jefferson County. (An earlier source said that crew came from Olympia.) A second crew from Michel's was brought in from Ellensburg and a third crew from Michel's came from Tillamook, Oregon later in the week, Parker said.

SCATTERED, MILL OUT

As for what parts of Jefferson County were hardest hit, Parker said Marrowstone Island and Indian Island were out of power for some time starting on Thursday night.

“But it was so scattered. That was the hardest part. We couldn't bring on lots and lots of people,” he said. Lines along Oak Bay Road and throughout the Shine area were hit hard.

Parts of Port Townsend had lost power Tuesday, but Port Townsend did not lose power in the Thursday storm.

However, the Port Townsend Paper Corp. did lose power Thursday night. The mill had been getting power from a line from Clallam County. When that went down, power had to be shifted to lines running through Jefferson County's PUD, Parker said.

Parker also said it is possible there still are people without power.

“There may be some people that are off and we don't know about it because they still are here,” he said of people leaving once the power goes off and then returning to homes where power has not been restored because the PUD isn't aware their power is off.

Anyone whose power is off should call the PUD at 385-5800 and be prepared to leave a detailed message.

AUTOMATION

The PUD also has been investing in an automated, computerized system that helps identify when there are problems on power lines. The Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system allows someone in the office to see when there is a problem on a line and it also allows for the person in the office to re-energize the line instead of sending out a crew to do it, Parker explained.

For a map of where current outages are in Jefferson County, as well as estimated restoration times, see jeffpud.org.

SCHOOL CLOSURES

The downed trees and sustained power outages led the Chimacum School District and Port Townsend School District to cancel classes Dec. 12. The decision at 5:15 a.m. was to try a two-hour late start but both districts, shortly before 8 a.m., changed it to cancellation, in part due to hazardous conditions for schoolchildren out waiting for bus transportation.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

The utility line damage also knocked out 911 call service in Jefferson County for a time on Dec. 11; calls were automatically diverted to Pencom in Clallam County.

“The only boundaries we have are geographical,” said Jeffcom Director Karl Hatton. “The two dispatch centers do a good job of helping one another in times just like this.”

During the peak of the storm, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Dec. 11 in most places, resources were stretched as calls for service exceeded responding agencies’ ability to deal with the overwhelming number of calls, said Jefferson County Emergency Manager Bob Hamlin. He reminds residents of the need to be prepared for events like these storms.

“This is the first major weather event of the winter and may not be the last. This is a good time to replenish emergency supplies that may be needed later in the winter,” he said.

East Jefferson Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Brian Tracer reminds residents who will be cleaning up storm debris to check with their local fire district before burning branches and limbs. For residents within the boundaries of Fire District 1, Tracer suggests looking at the district’s website at ejfr.org for outdoor burning guidelines.