Copper thieves caused Thanksgiving power outage in Mason County, local PUD says
Copper thieves caused nearly 1,000 people in Mason County to lose power on Thanksgiving Day.
The outages occurred after 2 p.m. on the Tahuya Peninsula, just as people were preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Mason Public Utility District 3 shared details about the incident in a Wednesday news release.
The thieves broke into underground electrical vaults where they cut and removed copper wires, the PUD release says. Work crews restored power for most residents by 5:30 p.m. that day but some went without power past 5:30 a.m. the following morning.
“Thieves nationwide are risking their lives to steal copper and other metals for scrap, but the payoff is not worth the risk to themselves and others,” the news release reads.
Work crews continued to inspect other vaults for damage as of Wednesday. The PUD says it plans to increase security measures at its vaults as well as work on ways to make outages shorter and easier to fix.
The latter effort will require upgrading and installing specialized equipment to “help isolate outages to smaller areas and restore power faster,” according to the release.
The underground power systems include “multiple vaults along each mile of power lines,” many of which are in remote areas. In all, the PUD maintains over 1,800 miles of line that serve over 35,000 electric customers, according to the release and PUD website.
Give all that, the PUD says cameras and other monitoring systems are infeasible or would be “outrageously expensive.”
So, the PUD is now asking the public to “keep an eye out” for any suspicious activity. The PUD says the public can call them to confirm if their work crews are in the area or call 911 if they witness dangerous activities.
“Thieves oftentimes wear reflective vests and hardhats or find other ways to attempt to look legitimate,” the release reads.
