Squirrel's misstep blacks out downtown
Emily Berner, 16, right, and Rachael Brander, 18, work on cleaning and stocking during the power outage at Norm's News on Monday. Co-owners Gordon Pirrie, left, and his daughter-in-law Beth Pirrie head back into the darkened back of the store with a flashlight. "We've had to turn away our normal coffee guys that come in every morning," said Beth Pirrie. Norm's News was without power for about three hours.
A squirrel’s life was cut short Monday morning when it got into a circuit breaker at the Green Acres power substation on the south end of Kalispell.
The rodent’s untimely demise cut power to nearly 4,000 homes and businesses, mostly on the south and east sides of Kalispell and downtown, according to Flathead Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom Price. Some homes on the west side of the city reported power outages as well, she said.
The Green Acres substation, located on Fifth Avenue East near Western Building Center, “feeds a lot of lines,” Ostrom Price said. The co-op got reports of outages from Main Street to Airport Road.
About 3,900 members were out of power, she said. The first report came in shortly after 8 a.m.
Crews worked to reroute power. By about 9:30 a.m., electricity had been restored to all but 1,400 customers. Power was fully restored by about 11 a.m., Ostrom Price said.
The outage blacked out traffic lights in downtown Kalispell, but no accidents were reported. For the most part, “traffic continued to flow pretty well on its own,” Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said.
Officers put up temporary stop signs at Main and Center streets, the last intersection to regain power, he said. Police also smoothed out a few traffic snarls.
“We received several complaints about traffic flow at other intersections and had to intervene a couple times,” Nasset said. “But drivers were very courteous and helped us through” the outage.
Several Kalispell schools lost power or phone and Internet service — or all three. Linderman Education Center, Elrod and Hedges elementary schools and Flathead High were most affected, transportation and maintenance director Chuck Cassidy said.
Flathead “was totally in the dark,” secretary Rhonda Reilly said.
A custodian got the school’s generator running about 20 minutes into the blackout, which gave the school minimal lighting, she said. The lights came on a little after 9 a.m., just in time for second period; phone service didn’t return until about 11 a.m.
With power restored, cooks in Kalispell’s elementary kitchen at Flathead High were able to resume hot lunch preparations.
“Our food service people were making alternate plans in case [the power] didn’t come back on in time — nonheated meals, sandwiches, chips, things like that,” Cassidy said.
Lunch had been a concern at some elementary schools, including Hedges, which was without power until about 10:30 a.m.
Typically food is brought over from Flathead and kept warm in portable ovens until lunch time, Principal Casey Bertram explained. There also was the problem of how to feed kids; Hedges’ lunchroom is an interior room without windows.
Staff and students were preparing to eat in classrooms, which were reasonably well lit thanks to their large windows, Bertram said.
The other challenge was keeping people safe on their trips to and from the restrooms, he added. Luckily, science kits for two grade levels came equipped with about 30 flashlights, which kept stubbed toes to a minimum.
“We taped flashlights to the walls and ... to the paper towel dispensers,” Bertram said.
Several downtown businesses, including Western Outdoor and its next-door neighbor, Norm’s News, were in the dark during the outage.
“Norm’s didn’t get the coffee going,” said Mark Pirrie, who co-owns both businesses.
Staff at Norm’s “pretty much walked in the door and [the lights] went off,” he said. “They straightened what they could and hung out” until power was restored shortly before 11 a.m.
Western Outdoor wasn’t yet open when the power went off, so the store stayed closed until the outage was over, Pirrie said. The business has battery-operated emergency lights, but those only lasted about 45 minutes, he said.
Pirrie was working out at Flathead Health and Fitness when the gym went dark. About four cardio machines there generate their own power, Pirrie said, including the one he was using. He was able to finish his workout; by the time he was done, the power was restored.
“That was good; I got to shower,” Pirrie said.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.