The Lewis County Public Utilities District (PUD) is coordinating with law enforcement officials and increasing security after recent attacks on the power grid in Western Washington.
On Christmas Day, four cases of vandalism to power facility substations caused thousands of customers in the greater Tacoma area to lose power.
Two of the substations are operated by Tacoma Public Utilities and two are operated by Puget Sound Energy. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Tacoma Public Utilities wrote that 7,300 of its customers were affected by the “intentional damage.” Puget Sound Energy listed more than 14,000 affected residents.
The attacks included forced entry and damage to equipment, with one leading to a fire. The events seem to be among a trend in recent substation vandalisms. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, at least six substations across the Pacific Northwest saw similar crimes in November, including two run by Puget Sound Energy. One of those was in Cowlitz County.
With neighboring Cowlitz and Pierce experiencing the purposeful infrastructure damage, Lewis County PUD, which covers all of Lewis County except Centralia, has been upping security.
Jacob Henry, PUD business services manager, wrote in an email to The Chronicle, “Lewis County PUD is aware of the recent substation vandalism events occurring in the Pacific Northwest and at neighboring utilities. We are coordinating with law enforcement agencies to communicate and increase the security of our substation sites.”
Henry continued that the PUD follows industry standards on safety and security, but “as part of our security strategy, we cannot discuss details of our mitigation measures and resiliency strategies.”
While some news outlets have speculated the crimes are the work of agenda-driven domestic terrorists, law enforcement agencies and utilities alike have been reluctant to say whether the acts of vandalism are related, let alone the motivation behind the perpetrators.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has made an appeal to the public for additional information on the events of Christmas Day, with the agency writing a request on Facebook for any surveillance videos near the date and time of each incident. A spokesperson for the department told the News Tribune Wednesday no suspects had yet been identified and no evidence yet showed the incidents were connected.
“On Christmas Day (12/25), four substations were vandalized, causing thousands of customers to lose power,” the department wrote, listing two 5 a.m. incidents in Spanaway and Graham, one at 2:39 a.m. in South Hill and one at 7:21 p.m. in Kapowsin.
Those with potentially helpful information should call the sheriff’s department at 253-798-7530.
