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FIRE & WIND - SYSTEM IMPACT 10/8 | Inspections continue throughout the service territory

McKenzie Electric staff and contractors continue to scour the service area identifying emergency repairs and areas of the electrical system that require an immediate construction response. Crews are actively running lines within burn areas and will be marking poles with flags and/or ribbons.

Many repairs have already been made to ensure reliable service and avoid potential outages in the future. While crews are repairing lines and replacing poles, they carefully remove damaged infrastructure and soak poles to avoid reignition.

While our entire service area (5000 miles lines) will be inspected throughout the coming weeks, focused inspections are taking place in the Mandaree and Bear Den burn areas.

Thank you for your patience as we work to repair our system from the damage received over the weekend. As always, please continue to report outages through SmartHub or by calling 701-444-9288. To view current outages, please use our live outage viewer located here: https://outageviewer.mckenzieelectric.com/

FIRE IMPACT | MEC System – Initial damage estimates 10/7/24 11:00 a.m.

First and foremost, our thoughts are with the families and communities affected by the wildfires throughout western North Dakota. While the numbers continue to be adjusted, the impact is widespread and felt deeply by many of our membership and the community as a whole. We also extend our thanks and appreciation to the fire departments, EMS services, and everyone who supported the fire control efforts.

Throughout the weekend, MEC field staff has worked alongside firefighters and EMS assisting where they could. Our crews have been working around the clock to assess the damage to our electrical system where it is safe to do so. Safety remains our top priority, we will continue to work where it is safe to do so conducting line inspections and repairs where needed.

Our initial estimate of damaged electrical structures are over 20 transmission poles and 100+ distribution poles. As the fires are controlled and our crews are able to fully inspect our lines, we will know more information on how the system has been affected and will provide updates through our website and social media channels.

If you see damaged electrical infrastructure (downed line or pole), please call us at 701-444-9288 as soon as you can and keep your distance. This may help prevent future outages and help with restoration efforts.

During the restoration process, outages may continue to appear. Please continue to report outages through SmartHub or by calling 701-444-9288. To view current outages, please use our live outage viewer located here: https://outageviewer.mckenzieelectric.com/