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Photo courtesy Idaho Falls Power
IDAHO FALLS – A combination of environmental factors led to sparks flying, flames burning and power outages in Idaho Falls Monday night, according to officials.
Idaho Falls saw the first outage around 11 p.m. with a power pole catching fire and lines falling across Interstate 15. Idaho Falls Power spokesman Bud Cranor told EastIdahoNews.com crews believe this and subsequent outages resulted from environmental conditions rather than a mechanical failure. The outages also impacted Rocky Mountain Power customers in Bonneville and Jefferson Counties.
“Power outages are always going to happen,” Cranor said. “We just try to do our best to try to mitigate them as much as we can.”
Idaho State Police (ISP) responded to a transformer explosion on Interstate 15 north of Idaho Falls, near Milepost 119. The explosion occurred early on Tuesday morning. A transformer is an electrical device that transfers power from an electrical circuit to another, sometimes multiple. When a transformer is loaded with too much electricity at once, an explosion can occur. Transformers are designed to shut down when an energy spike is detected,.