this time "3" transformers burned, power is out ALL over the Northern part of the Valley AND todays forecast temps are 112° I'll post more info as it comes available
Dennis
"Breaking News...Another Substation Fire!"
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azsnowman
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"Breaking News...Another Substation Fire!"
Just in the to the Channel 5 News room, there's been ANOTHER transformer fire in North Phoenix this time "3" transformers burned, power is out ALL over the Northern part of the Valley AND todays forecast temps are 112° I'll post more info as it comes available
Dennis
this time "3" transformers burned, power is out ALL over the Northern part of the Valley AND todays forecast temps are 112° I'll post more info as it comes available
Dennis
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azskyman
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The fire is out. Outage is relatively minor this time. About 13,000 still affected in an area about 2 miles SW of our plant here in north Phoenix. Smoke still hangs over this part of town.
Big question....are the outages caused by technical issues? Or is there something else going on these days? Strange they would start during overnight hours when demand is LESS.
Big question....are the outages caused by technical issues? Or is there something else going on these days? Strange they would start during overnight hours when demand is LESS.
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wx247
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That is so weird.
Thanks for the updates. I hope things get back to normal there real soon.
Thanks for the updates. I hope things get back to normal there real soon.
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The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to the NHC and NWS products.
The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to the NHC and NWS products.
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azsnowman
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http://www.azcentral.com
Brace for rolling blackouts, APS warns after fire
Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic
Residents who woke up without power seek relief outside early Tuesday morning. They are (from left) Shelley Fenimore, Michele Fuhriman, Lauren Cope and Brenda Fuhriman.
Max Jarman and Brent Whiting
The Arizona RepublicThe Arizona Republic
Jul. 20, 2004 04:05 PM
Northwest Valley residents should be prepared for rolling blackouts later today as a result of an early morning transformer fire that compromised the electric power grid in the area.
The fire was blamed for a Glendale hospital temporarily losing power this afternoon.
The two areas most likely to face temporary outages are between Seventh and 67th avenues and Olive Avenue and Dynamite Boulevard, and between 67th and 115th avenues and Northern Avenue and Union Hills Drive, according to Arizona Public Service Co. spokesman Alan Bunnell.
"Service interruptions are likely in these areas today," Bunnell said.
Help The Arizona Republic cover the Valley's power crunch. If you learn of a power failure in the metro area today, please send an e-mail to newstips@arizonarepublic.com or call 602-444-NEWS.
Please specify where the power is out, and if possible, provide a telephone number for someone in the affected area. Thank you.
Related coverage
• West Valley responds with 'cooling centers,' extra police patrol
• What to expect if blackouts are forced
• Shopper shown door at wide-open stores
Second transformer fire worsens power crunch
Keeping yourself, pets cool if rolling blackouts occur
Firefighters make lifestyle changes to prevent rolling blackouts
• APS tweaks grid to boost power
• APS' rating on how critical power shortage is today
• What you can do to help
• Special report: Pinched for power >>
At about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Bunnell reported that no decision had been made about whether to implement rolling blackouts in the areas.
"We're holding out hope that we can avoid them," he said.
Because of the high temperatures expected Tuesday, other areas of the Valley could face blackouts during peak use hours, between 3 and 6 p.m. In that case, Salt River Project customers could be affected along with APS customers.
The good news, Bunnell said, is that the overall demand for electricity is lower than it was at the same time Monday.
"It's clear that people are heeding the messsage," he said.
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center lost power for 35 to 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon that was attributed to the transformer fire. Hospital spokeswoman Kristine Burnett says there are three power lines running into Thunderbird Sam. Each has a regulator that acts like a surge protector.
Apparently, problems caused by the transformer fire in northwest Phoenix early this morning caused two regulators to cut off power on those lines. A backup generator kicked in to help but eventually some systems and air conditioning began to go out.
Burnett says staff did a 60-second shutdown of the power system to bring the regulators back up. She says everything returned to normal. None of the patients had to be transferred.
The fire Tuesday morning was the second transformer fire in just over two weeks at an APS-operated substation. And it is the third serious failure of electrical equipment in the northwest Valley this summer.
A July 4 substation fire cut the Valley's capacity to import electricity by 20 percent and a June 14 power line short near 115th Avenue and Union Hills Drive caused 65,000 homes to experience rolling blackouts that day. APS also shut down the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for a week.
The Office of Homeland Security has been notified of the latest fire, although terrorism is not suspected at this time.
Arizona Public Service and the Phoenix Fire Department are investigating the fire.
The fire started about 2:30 a.m. at Arizona Public Service's Deer Valley Substation at 35th Avenue and Yorkshire Drive. It destroyed one of three 230-kilovolt transformers at the station. The fire knocked out electricity to approximately 50,000 APS customers in the area. Power was restored to most residents within a few hours, but about 13,000 were without electricity until 8:45 a.m.
APS has identified two spare transformers that could be used to replace the one damaged by fire and is evaluating which one would make the most suitable replacement. Still, Bunnell said it could be several days before the damaged transformer is replaced.
Until then, northwest Valley residents will be vulnerable to rolling blackouts, given forecasts of high temperatures exceeding 110 degrees.
Since the July 4 fire, the Valley's power grid has been reconfigured to allow more electricity to be brought into the area. That will now make it more difficult to compensate for the damaged Deer Valley substation.
"We sacrificed redundancy to get more import capacity," Bunnell said.
Bunnell said blackouts in other parts of the Valley are possible given the expected high temperatures.
"We're going to need every one of our customers to conserve energy today, particularly from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.," Bunnell said
APS' energy watch indicator was in the red zone early this morning, indicating need for consumers to cut their power use. By midmorning it had been reduced to yellow, indicating a need to conserve from 3 to 6 p.m.
Brace for rolling blackouts, APS warns after fire
Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic
Residents who woke up without power seek relief outside early Tuesday morning. They are (from left) Shelley Fenimore, Michele Fuhriman, Lauren Cope and Brenda Fuhriman.
Max Jarman and Brent Whiting
The Arizona RepublicThe Arizona Republic
Jul. 20, 2004 04:05 PM
Northwest Valley residents should be prepared for rolling blackouts later today as a result of an early morning transformer fire that compromised the electric power grid in the area.
The fire was blamed for a Glendale hospital temporarily losing power this afternoon.
The two areas most likely to face temporary outages are between Seventh and 67th avenues and Olive Avenue and Dynamite Boulevard, and between 67th and 115th avenues and Northern Avenue and Union Hills Drive, according to Arizona Public Service Co. spokesman Alan Bunnell.
"Service interruptions are likely in these areas today," Bunnell said.
Help The Arizona Republic cover the Valley's power crunch. If you learn of a power failure in the metro area today, please send an e-mail to newstips@arizonarepublic.com or call 602-444-NEWS.
Please specify where the power is out, and if possible, provide a telephone number for someone in the affected area. Thank you.
Related coverage
• West Valley responds with 'cooling centers,' extra police patrol
• What to expect if blackouts are forced
• Shopper shown door at wide-open stores
Second transformer fire worsens power crunch
Keeping yourself, pets cool if rolling blackouts occur
Firefighters make lifestyle changes to prevent rolling blackouts
• APS tweaks grid to boost power
• APS' rating on how critical power shortage is today
• What you can do to help
• Special report: Pinched for power >>
At about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Bunnell reported that no decision had been made about whether to implement rolling blackouts in the areas.
"We're holding out hope that we can avoid them," he said.
Because of the high temperatures expected Tuesday, other areas of the Valley could face blackouts during peak use hours, between 3 and 6 p.m. In that case, Salt River Project customers could be affected along with APS customers.
The good news, Bunnell said, is that the overall demand for electricity is lower than it was at the same time Monday.
"It's clear that people are heeding the messsage," he said.
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center lost power for 35 to 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon that was attributed to the transformer fire. Hospital spokeswoman Kristine Burnett says there are three power lines running into Thunderbird Sam. Each has a regulator that acts like a surge protector.
Apparently, problems caused by the transformer fire in northwest Phoenix early this morning caused two regulators to cut off power on those lines. A backup generator kicked in to help but eventually some systems and air conditioning began to go out.
Burnett says staff did a 60-second shutdown of the power system to bring the regulators back up. She says everything returned to normal. None of the patients had to be transferred.
The fire Tuesday morning was the second transformer fire in just over two weeks at an APS-operated substation. And it is the third serious failure of electrical equipment in the northwest Valley this summer.
A July 4 substation fire cut the Valley's capacity to import electricity by 20 percent and a June 14 power line short near 115th Avenue and Union Hills Drive caused 65,000 homes to experience rolling blackouts that day. APS also shut down the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for a week.
The Office of Homeland Security has been notified of the latest fire, although terrorism is not suspected at this time.
Arizona Public Service and the Phoenix Fire Department are investigating the fire.
The fire started about 2:30 a.m. at Arizona Public Service's Deer Valley Substation at 35th Avenue and Yorkshire Drive. It destroyed one of three 230-kilovolt transformers at the station. The fire knocked out electricity to approximately 50,000 APS customers in the area. Power was restored to most residents within a few hours, but about 13,000 were without electricity until 8:45 a.m.
APS has identified two spare transformers that could be used to replace the one damaged by fire and is evaluating which one would make the most suitable replacement. Still, Bunnell said it could be several days before the damaged transformer is replaced.
Until then, northwest Valley residents will be vulnerable to rolling blackouts, given forecasts of high temperatures exceeding 110 degrees.
Since the July 4 fire, the Valley's power grid has been reconfigured to allow more electricity to be brought into the area. That will now make it more difficult to compensate for the damaged Deer Valley substation.
"We sacrificed redundancy to get more import capacity," Bunnell said.
Bunnell said blackouts in other parts of the Valley are possible given the expected high temperatures.
"We're going to need every one of our customers to conserve energy today, particularly from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.," Bunnell said
APS' energy watch indicator was in the red zone early this morning, indicating need for consumers to cut their power use. By midmorning it had been reduced to yellow, indicating a need to conserve from 3 to 6 p.m.
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azskyman
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One hospital on the west side of town lost power this afternoon. Some emergency evacuations and also some redistribution of power going on from other locations.
APS has now noted that they will be changing some of their security at some of their locations...immediately.
At least this time they did have the hardware nearby to fix the problem...hopefully by week's end.
APS has now noted that they will be changing some of their security at some of their locations...immediately.
At least this time they did have the hardware nearby to fix the problem...hopefully by week's end.
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Aslkahuna
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Problem with swamp coolers is that they don't work too well during the monsoon when that 110F heat is seasoned with a little humidity. Right now, the dewpoints are in the 50's but they could easily jump into the 70's in a matter of hours were a Gulf Surge from the Sea of Cortez to hit.
Steve
Steve
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