Washington State News – Public Property Vandalized, 3 Substations Lost Power

Washington State News: More than 14,000 people lost power on Christmas morning when vandals broke into three substations in Pierce County, Washington. According to the Pierce County sheriff’s office, which includes Tacoma, three separate burglaries occurred at Tacoma Public Utilities substations and one at a Puget Sound Energy station.

According to the sheriff, no one has been taken into custody.

“It is uncertain whether there are any reasons or if this was a concerted attack on the electrical systems,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Roughly 2,000 of Tacoma Public Utilities’ customers lost power at first, and personnel are attempting to restore service; as of a subsequent update, all but about 900 customers had had service restored.

This morning’s malicious attacks have had more widespread effects on our system than we had anticipated, the business claimed. “Around 8 AM tomorrow, we will begin restoring certain clients. Please be patient as we address this act of malicious sabotage against our infrastructure.”

We understand this event has disrupted the holiday plans of many, and our staff are working around the clock to securely restore power to all customers as soon as possible.

DHS published an advisory last month warning that “lone offenders and small groups motivated by a spectrum of ideological ideologies and/or personal grudges” may target key U.S. infrastructure.

Tens of thousands of people lost power in North Carolina when two electrical substations were shot up earlier this month, leading local officials to declare a state of emergency.