Communities in southern Southeast Alaska lost power for a few hours Thursday afternoon, due to a failure along the power grid in Ketchikan. Wrangell, Ketchikan, and Petersburg all lost power around noon on April 25.
Jeremy Bynum, the electric division manager for Ketchikan Public Utilities said the outage was caused by a failed part on a power pole near the Landing Hotel in Ketchikan, which caused a fire to spark. The failed part was an insulator, which protects the power poles from electrical current. Wood conducts electricity, so electrical wires are connected to the wooden poles that hold them by insulators – silicone or porcelain gadgets that look like discs stacked on top of each other.
Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg receive most of their electricity from hydropower.