There is a power outage in downtown Bend for over an hour, the cause of which is known: the intrusion of a wayward squirrel into the substation

(Update: Power came back on shortly after 2 p.m.)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Power was out in downtown Bend during the lunch hour Friday and into the early afternoon, affecting more than 5,500 Pacific Power customers. The outage was caused by a known culprit: a wayward squirrel at the utility's riverside substation.

The outage also knocked out traffic lights in the area and forced the closure of the Deschutes County Courthouse, while surrounding county offices were affected. According to Pacific Power's outage map, power went out to 5,576 customers around 12:37 p.m. According to a company spokesperson, while an initial restoration estimate was given as “before 4 p.m.,” power was restored shortly after 2 p.m.

Utility crews went to the downtown substation and “found a squirrel” that caused the outage, said Simon Gutierrez, senior communications specialist at Pacific Power.

As many know, this is not the first time as squirrels have caused outages downtown and other locations before, including one a year ago that left more than 18,000 Bend customers without power.

“That’s a pretty common cause of outages,” Gutierrez said. “Squirrels and birds are two of our least welcome creatures.”

Asked if anything could be done to prevent or reduce such animal-related outages, Gutierrez said, “We have some cage and netting materials” and “we will definitely look into” the situation downtown of Bend this justifies such additions.

We will have a report on NewsChannel 21 tonight.