Jefferson County leaders are sounding the alarm over a surge of power outages hitting the Madras area — five since the beginning of June alone — caused by a combination of PacifiCorp equipment failures and the utility’s wildfire-prevention “enhanced safety settings.”
The outages have drawn sharp criticism from farmers, irrigation managers, and county officials who say the disruptions are causing serious financial damage at the worst possible time of year.
Why the Power Keeps Going Out
PacifiCorp — parent company of Pacific Power — uses “enhanced safety settings” on its electrical equipment during periods of elevated fire weather. When sensors detect a potential fault, the system automatically de-energizes the line to prevent a spark from igniting a wildfire.
“We understand that any outage of power can be a hardship for customers that we’re sympathetic to that,” PacifiCorp spokesman Simon Gutierrez told Central Oregon Daily. “What we’re faced with is a time of elevated fire risk and extreme fire danger compared to years past.”
Some of the recent outages were also tied to equipment problems at a substation serving Madras. PacifiCorp says some repairs have been made and others are in progress.
Farmers and Irrigators Hit Hard
The North Unit Irrigation District (NUID), which delivers water to thousands of acres of Central Oregon farmland, says unexpected outages create cascading problems across their water delivery system.
“We’ll have gates that are shut down and then they go to correct themselves when the power comes back on and it ends up spilling water down through our system,” said NUID General Manager Josh Bailey. “So, it’s not as controllable, and it puts our system at risk.”
For farms in the middle of the growing season, even short interruptions can damage crops, interrupt irrigation schedules, and cause costly waste of water resources.
The Weight of History
PacifiCorp’s aggressive fire prevention posture comes with legal and historical context. The utility was blamed for the catastrophic 2020 Labor Day fires in Oregon, which burned through thousands of acres and destroyed communities. PacifiCorp recently settled a nearly $600 million lawsuit with the federal government over those fires — the result of poorly maintained equipment sparking blazes across National Forest land.
That history has made the company deeply cautious — but the cost of that caution is now landing squarely on Jefferson County residents and agricultural producers.
What PacifiCorp Says It’s Doing
In a statement following recent reporting, PacifiCorp said it has added new equipment designed to reduce the number of customers impacted when an outage occurs. The company’s engineering team is also reviewing additional line segments for potential reliability improvements.
Whether those upgrades will be enough to satisfy Jefferson County residents — already facing a long, dry fire season ahead — remains to be seen.