Over 1,000 Grant PUD Costumers Without Power Monday

Grant County PUD crews still have some work to do after over 1,000 customers lost power just before 7:30 this morning south of Ephrata.

Public Affairs Officer Christine Pratt said a pole fire near the intersection of Dodson Road and Road 9.8 West burned the pole's base to the point that it fell over.

Firefighters from Grant County Fire District 13 responded to the incident and put out both the pole fire and a small brush fire that had began.

"At first, (crews) were suspecting that a bird nest on the pole had caught fire and that was the case. They've since ruled that out because, upon closer inspection, only the base of the pole had burned. In fact, they couldn't find an obvious cause of the fire," Pratt said.

Power was restored for most customers within an hour. Pratt said an estimated eight customers were still without power as of 3:00pm.

Crews hope to be done by 3:30pm.