Bird causes one-hour outage in areas of McMinnville

A bird flew into the apparatus known as “bus works” at an electrical substation at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, causing a one-hour power outage throughout parts of McMinnville.

McMinnville Water & Light spokeswoman Trena McManus said the outage occurred at the east McMinnville substation, located off Riverside Drive next to the dog park. The bird’s impact tripped four feeders and cut power to sections of town including downtown.

Power and internet were restored by 8:45 a.m., according to McManus.

At Memorial Elementary, staff reported at 8:20 a.m. that portable generators were used to keep the lights on and the day proceeded as scheduled.

Between 2,000 and 4,000 Water & Light customers were affected. Areas directly around the east substation were unaffected; the outage areas were spotty, as different sections of town are connected by different circuits linked to seven separate substations, McManus explained.