Oregon’s electric co-ops have been working to keep the power on as massive wildfires rage across the state this summer.
Columbia Power Cooperative (CPC), Oregon’s smallest electric utility, told the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) that it has managed to keep the power flowing to almost all of its members despite six wildfires burning in its territory.
The 150 residents of Monument, hometown of CPC’s headquarters, had prepared for evacuation after the Boneyard Fire grew from 300 acres to 800 acres, jumping containment lines.
In mid-July a total of six wildfires swept into CPC’s eastern Oregon territory, four of which converged into a single blaze named the Battle Mountain Complex.
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Recent reports state that this fire has consumed more than 180,000 acres and is now 94% contained.
CPC’s five-member line crew worked around the clock to clear out any brush at risk of catching fire around power poles, as well as extinguishing flames from some poles that had already caught fire.
Speaking to the NRECA, CPC’s general manager, Lisa Atkin, highlighted the combined efforts of firefighters, co-op members and staff in protecting and serving the affected communities during the crisis.
Only 15 to 20 of CPC’s 1,100 members lost power during this period.
A number of the state’s electric co-ops have been affected by wildfires this year, which so far have consumed more than 1.4 million acres across Oregon, more than any other year since records began.
Baker City’s Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative had to temporarily switch off some of its lines to protect firefighters, and Columbia Basin Electric Co-op in Heppner has reported losing around 40 power poles in the Lone Rock Fire.
Set up in 1948, CPC maintains over a thousand miles of overhead and underground lines which provide electricity to 1,084 members.
