UPDATE 2:45pm

Power has been fully restored in Ephrata around 1:15 Thursday afternoon.  If customers are still experiencing an outage, they can report it to Grant PUD by calling (800) 216-5226. Grant PUD reminds customers to please not dial 911 to report a power outage.
An equipment malfunction in the Central Ephrata Substation caused the outage that affected up to 8,000 customers at its peak in Ephrata, Quincy and Soap Lake.  Service to customers in Soap Lake and Quincy was restored about one hour into the outage. The majority of customers in Ephrata were restored around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.   Several hundred Ephrata customers in the Swanson Addition, Oasis Park and Railroad Ave areas, including several business in the southeast section of town, remained without power as crews worked to restore damaged spans of distribution line.

The cause of the substation equipment failure is unknown at this time. No injuries related to the substation equipment failure were reported. With power restored, Grant PUD crew members will work to determine the cause of the equipment failure over the coming days and week.

Grant County PUD says at the peak of the outage up to 8,000 customers were without power.

 

The Grant County Sheriff's Office reported the fire and explosions  lit up the evening sky for about 30 seconds on two occasions.  The substation yard  is at Nat Washington Way and A Street Southeast in downtown Ephrata.  Firefighters from the City of Ephrata and Grant County Fire District 13 saved a majority of the building.

There were reports of other power lines down and Grant PUD crews responded to fix those lines.

 

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