Kearns substation breached and vandalized, causing outage for nearly 3,000

KEARNS — Nearly 3,000 Kearns residents were without power early Tuesday after someone vandalized the interior of a substation. Crews said they worked for hours later trying to repair the damages.

A Rocky Mountain Power spokesman David Eskelsen said the substation was breached around 5:30 a.m. The equipment inside that transfers the flow of energy was vandalized, knocking out power for 2,721 people in several city blocks. Power crews responded immediately, Eskelsen said, and all affected customers were switched over to another substation by about 7:30 a.m.

Oddly, the substation is right next to a strip mall that burned down in an early-morning fire three weeks before. So far, the power company said it is unaware of a connection between the two incidents.

That knocked out power for 2,721 people for several city blocks. Power crews came out immediately and started reconnecting the affected customers to the other substation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, several questions were still unanswered, including what the vandal was trying to do. So far, it’s unclear if the person or people were trying to steal copper from the station or not.

“We do have cases where it’s clear (they) were trying to steal copper,” Eskelsen said. “That might be the case here, we just don’t have enough information — can’t speculate on what the motive was.”

Crews were also still unsure of the extent of the damage done, and didn’t have an estimated time repairs were expected to finish.

Regardless of the reason for entering, the power company did want to warn people: going into a substation and tampering with wires and equipment is incredibly dangerous, Eskelsen said. If the wrong thing is touched, it could be a fatal mistake.