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Roughly 15,000 people in Washington state woke up without power Christmas morning after three substations were vandalized in the early hours.
The vandalism began as early as 2:30 a.m. Sunday when a substation controlled by Puget Sound Energy was damaged and lost power. About 7,700 customers lost power, but had it restored by 5 a.m., according to a company spokesperson.
Another substation was put out of service through the work of vandals at 5:30 a.m., Tacoma Public Utilities reported, followed by a second substation shortly after, the sheriff’s office said. The outages affected about 7,300 customers. The utility company restored power to all but 2,700 customers just before noon.
In all three cases, someone broke into a fenced-off area near the substations and damaged equipment that put the substations temporarily out of order. It’s unclear if the attack was coordinated and how the equipment was damaged.
Earlier this month, utility companies spent days fixing a substation that had been shot and damaged in North Carolina, causing a massive power outage.
There have been no arrests as officials continue to investigate.
The vandalism comes as federal officials warn that the power grid is vulnerable to domestic terrorism. A US Homeland Security report warned that extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.
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