Another holiday weekend brings ‘high alert’ after power substations vandalized in Pierce County

Heading into a second-straight holiday weekend, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department remains on guard against a potential repeat of Christmas Day, when vandalism at four electrical substations left roughly 30,000 customers without power.

The department has been on “high alert” since Sunday and going over security measures with Tacoma Public Utilities and Puget Sound Energy, the two companies that each had two facilities targeted, sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss said Friday.

“We’re aware there’s another holiday coming up,” Moss said. “We’re looking at the possibility it could happen again this weekend.”

While Moss has said that the incidents appeared connected, an ongoing law enforcement probe has not reached any conclusion on whether the vandalism and equipment damage were a coordinated effort or linked to recent attacks on the power grid elsewhere in the U.S., including in southern Washington.

In the wake of Sunday’s incidents, utilities said they were being vigilant.

“As federal authorities have issued warnings and alerts regarding power grid security, we have evolved and increased our security measures to respond to these changing risks and will continue to do so,” TPU spokesperson Rebekah Anderson said in a statement. “Following the events at our substations, we again implemented additional increases to security around our infrastructure.”

More than 7,000 TPU customers in Graham and Elk Plain lost power on Sunday, according to the utility, which said two of its substations were “attacked” and “deliberately targeted with physical damage.”

In a statement Friday, PSE spokesperson Andrew Padula said that roughly 23,000 of its customers were left without power -- about 15,000 of whom were affected by vandalism at one site that also caused a fire.

“Broadly speaking, the safety and security of our system and our customers is our top priority,” Padula said. “PSE has security measures in place and continues to invest in extensive measures to monitor, protect and minimize the risk to our equipment and infrastructure.”

Both utilities said that power was fully restored Monday.

Prior to Sunday’s incidents in south Pierce County, the Bonneville Power Administration — which also has substations in the county — reported on Thanksgiving Day that trespassers vandalized and damaged equipment at a facility in Clackamas, Oregon.

BPA spokesperson Doug Johnson told The News Tribune on Friday that the utility has “taken several measures” since then to increase security and that BPA was on heightened alert before Sunday due to the “deliberate attack” in Oregon.

“I would say it’s a good thing that we’re doing the things that we’re doing to increase security at this point,” he said. “Just a reminder that, again, we got to stay vigilant, keep our eyes open.”

Although it has been reported that the FBI was investigating attacks on substations elsewhere in the U.S., the FBI declined to confirm or deny its involvement in the Pierce County probe.

“We routinely share information with our local partners and take threats against our infrastructure seriously,” the agency said in an email.

The Sheriff’s Department has asked for the public’s help in identifying suspicious activity near the four substations via surveillance video, and it has urged anyone who sees anything suspicious near electrical facilities to call 911.