Pacific Power Outage Affects 1,403 Medford-Area Customers
The utility attributes the Monday morning outage to enhanced wildfire safety settings and estimates service will return before 2 p.m.
UPDATE: 3:27pm: Pacific Power’s outage map is no longer indicating an issue in the area.
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MEDFORD, Ore. — A Pacific Power outage is affecting 1,403 customers in parts of the Medford area Monday morning.
The outage was first reported at 10:54 a.m. Monday, July 13, and affects customers in ZIP codes 97504 and 97524, according to Pacific Power’s outage map. The utility currently estimates power will be restored before 2 p.m.
Pacific Power lists the cause as “Enhanced Safety Settings” and the status as “monitoring conditions.” The outage map does not identify what specifically triggered the interruption.
What Enhanced Safety Settings Mean
Pacific Power uses more sensitive equipment settings during periods of increased wildfire risk. According to the utility, those settings are designed to shut off a power line within fractions of a second when the system detects contact from debris, wildlife, strong winds or another disturbance.
The settings make lines more likely to shut down during wildfire season, which can result in outages even when no fire has started.
Pacific Power said restoration may also take longer than during a typical outage because crews may need to inspect the affected line before returning it to service.
The company said its meteorologists monitor fire and weather conditions and provide information to operational teams, which then make adjustments to the electrical system.
The outage is not listed as a planned Public Safety Power Shutoff. Pacific Power’s outage map instead attributes it to equipment operating under enhanced safety settings.
Customers can check Pacific Power’s outage map for updated restoration information.
Cover image: Pacific Power’s outage map showed 1,403 customers without electricity in parts of the Medford area Monday morning. The utility listed enhanced safety settings as the cause and estimated service would be restored before 2 p.m. Courtesy of Pacific Power
