As power outages sweep the county following this week’s windstorm, officials from Avista Utilities are advising that crews and staff are responding to all outages to restore power as quickly as possible.  

Outlined by the company, there are 45 line crews, each with about four linemen, working on the outages. Six contract line crews and 40 vegetation management crews are also in the field, responding to 71,600 Avista electric customers without power and over 916 separate outage incidents. Additionally, over 11,000 Northern Light customers are without power.  

With safety as a top priority, officials note that complete outage assessments may take up to 24 hours or more, due to the amount of fallen trees and branches. Some outages may last several days as crews work to safely assess and fix both transmission and distribution systems.  

At the time of publishing, estimated restoration times are unknown. Updates will be provided as assessments are completed.  

“All available crews and resources are dedicated to assessing damage and restoring power,” Avista Director of Operations Paul Good said. “We will share estimated restoration times as soon as assessments are complete. We appreciate our customers’ patience and assure you we are working around the clock until everyone is restored.” 

Officials encourage all customers to treat all power lines as if they’re energized.  

Call 911 if you see a downed power line and then call Avista at (800) 227-9187. Do not call 911 if you are experiencing a power outage.   

Suggested steps individuals can take during an outage:  

1. Turn off all appliances that were on before the power outage — leave one light on to know when power has been restored 

2. Unplug electronics 

3. If with power, turn on a front porch light to let Avista workers know which homes have power 

4. Do not wire emergency generators into a home’s electric system without a disconnect switch to separate generated power from Avista’s distribution system 

5. Only use a generator to run specific appliances and keep it outside, protecting the home from carbon monoxide fumes.