Bend power outage apparent cause: Young hawk

A power outage hit about 4,500 Pacific Power customers in downtown Bend and on the city’s Westside for nearly a half-hour Wednesday afternoon, setting off alarms, darkening traffic lights and trapping at least a couple of people in elevators.

It apparently was caused by electrocution of a juvenile red-tailed hawk, according to Jeannettte Bonomo of High Desert Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation

Bonomo said they got a call around 2 p.m. about the bird,which had suffered the fatal encounter in the area of SW Donovan Street and 13th Place, near Century Drive and Colorado Avenue.

“It was a significant electrocution … Very sad,” Bonomo said. “This is something that is all too common with our larger raptors. Electrical companies are required to retrofit the pole to prevent this from happening again.”

She explained that the poles can be retrofitted with insulating material, perch deterrents or “bird cages” — all designed to prevent more electrocutions. “The power companies are obligated to retrofit any problem poles when this happens,” Bonomo said, as she passed the pole ID number on to the utility.

Utility spokesman Tom Gauntt said the outage was reported shortly before 2 p.m. and affected Awbrey Butte (where several radio and TV transmission towers are located), extending into the downtown area. The power came back on around 2:20 p.m.

Rachel Rice posted to NewsChannel 21’s Facebook page that her “office had a blip and heard a loud pop. Dead falcon outside. Looks like he must have hit a power line.”

The outage knocked some TV and radio stations off the air, and also caused a power “blip” or hit to a wider area of the city.

Traffic lights went dark, alarms went off — and people were reported trapped in elevators in at least two downtown buildings, Columbia Bank on Wall Street and the city’s parking garage.