Nesting rodent triggers outage, cuts power to nearly 3,000 in Bend

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Unfortunate animal encounters are the cause of power outages now and then, but one that hit nearly 3,000 Pacific Power customers in Bend early Monday had a more unusual cause: a nesting rodent.

The outage that hit around 4:30 a.m. was traced by repair crews to "a rodent that got into a switching cabinet and made a nest, created an issue," Pacific Power spokesman Drew Hanson said.

Power was restored to about 1,000 of the customers by 6:30 a.m. and the rest an hour later, Hanson said.

The utility spokesman said the repair crew had not provided details on what type of rodent, the area affected by the outage or the location of the switching cabinet.

However, Hanson said, "I've been with the company for over three years, and this is the first time I've heard that as the cause. It goes to show how resilient our systems our against rodents."

Hanson said Pacific Power appreciates customers patience as we work as quickly and safely and safely as possible to resolve such issues.