Nearly 6,400 customers in Washoe County were without power at one point Monday as wildfires continued to affect the region. NV Energy has since restored power to thousands of customers, but outages remain across the county.
As of Monday, NV Energy's outage information showed 24 active outages, with 2,410 customers still without power in Washoe County. Most of the outages have been related to wildfires, while a smaller portion were planned outages.
NV Energy said approximately 1,700 customers in the greater North Valleys are currently without power because of emergency de-energization related to the Bug and Fred Mountain fires.
With the exception of a small number of customers along lower Lemmon Drive, most of those affected customers are in areas where evacuation orders or warnings are already in place because of wildfire activity.
The emergency de-energization began Aug. 9 after the active fires posed a direct threat to electrical infrastructure. NV Energy said the measure is part of its wildfire mitigation strategy and is intended to reduce the risk of additional wildfire ignitions and protect public safety.
There is currently no estimated restoration time for customers affected by the emergency shutoffs. Crews are evaluating options for safely restoring power and will do so when conditions allow.
Emergency de-energization is a proactive measure used when an active wildfire gets close to power lines or other electrical infrastructure. Temporarily shutting off power can reduce the risk of electrical equipment contributing to fire activity through a secondary ignition.
Because of the urgent nature of the circumstances, advance notice of emergency shutoffs may not always be possible. NV Energy said it will continue providing updates through customer notifications, its website and social media channels as conditions change.
Customers are not charged for electricity during periods when service is interrupted because of emergency de-energization.
Residents can check the latest outage information and preparedness resources through NV Energy's outage map.
