TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A fourth electrical substation was vandalized late on Christmas Day in Washington state, leaving the homes of Kapowsin and Graham temporarily without power, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
As of 7 a.m. Monday, more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without power in the area, KOMO-TV reported.
The suspects broke into a fenced area and vandalized equipment, starting a fire, officials said. The fire was put out and power was later restored, but no suspects are in custody, officials said.
The attacks come as federal officials warn the US power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism and after a major outage in North Carolina earlier this month took days to repair.
The first substation was vandalized around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by a second substation, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. The outages affected about 7,300 customers in an area southeast of Tacoma. Just before noon, the utility had restored power to all but 2,700 customers whose power was due to be restored around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, just before noon, Puget Sound Energy reported that a vandalism that occurred around 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. The approximately 7,700 customers who lost power restored it by 5 a.m., Puget Sound spokesman Andrew Padula said. The company is investigating, along with authorities, and declined to comment further, according to Padula.
In all four cases, the sheriff’s office said someone broke into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage.
Power plants have been hit in Washington and Oregon over the past month.
Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Cowlitz County Public Utility District and Puget Sound Energy confirmed six separate attacks on electrical substations in Washington and Oregon in previous weeks, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW-FM at Seattle.
The Associated Press