Transformer fire cuts power in Libby, Troy

More than 3,000 electricity customers in the Libby and Troy area lost power on Tuesday after a transformer at the Troy substation caught fire.

Elissa Glassman, a spokeswoman for Idaho-based utility Northern Lights, Inc., said the small electric fire was sparked by a bird.

The outage affected about 1,500 of the utility’s customers in Troy and farther north.

Crews from the Bonneville Power Administration responded to the incident, according to district manager Mike McCracken.

Flathead Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom Price said the outage affected more than 1,500 of the utility’s customers, mainly in Libby. The outage started around 11:45 a.m. and the utility had restored power in Libby by the afternoon.

However, that power restoration caused a fuse to blow, causing a secondary outage that cut electricity to 143 members.