Back to Blog

LINEMAN OKAY AFTER ELECTRICAL ARC CAUSED POWER OUTAGE IN EASTSOUND

Today’s outage in the Eastsound area was caused when an arc occurred during a system maintenance project in the Eastsound Village area. Journeyman Lineman Roger Sandwith was working on energized equipment with a hot stick and received minor burns to three knuckles of his hand. Sandwith was checked out at the medical center and given the all clear.

Safety is OPALCO’s top priority. The fact that our line crew was following safety protocols is what brought them through this event in good shape. It is an industry standard for linemen to work “hot” – on energized lines – to minimize outage interruptions for the people they serve. Please remember to thank our linemen for the job they do day after day to keep the power on.

The outage event began at about 10:00 am and power restoration is expected by 3:00 pm today.

You may also like...

bucket truck

Annual Member Festival a Big Success!

Madsen, Silverstein, Whitfield Win Seats in OPALCO 2025 Board Election On Thursday April 24, at the OPALCO Business Annual Meeting, Rick Fant of the OPALCO Election and Governance Committee announced … Read more
solar

Quick Fact: Decatur 2025

Decatur 2025 – May 10th Town Hall – Decatur Island School House Background information: If the co-op membership wishes for OPALCO to maintain power reliability, we need to site and … Read more

OPALCO Leadership Response to “OPALCO seems to have forgotten we live in the Pacific NW”

Letter to the Editor: The recent letter criticizing OPALCO’s solar efforts reflects a common misunderstanding of how clean energy planning works. Yes, solar production peaks in summer and declines in … Read more