PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Anticipated, intentional power shutoffs conducted by Portland General Electric and Pacific Power in response to the extreme fire weather forecast for the region on Friday and Saturday, are not expected to affect Portland’s public transportation routes, TriMet says.
TriMet spokesperson Tyler Graf told KOIN 6 that, although the anticipated shutoffs could occur in areas serviced by TriMet buses, the outages are unlikely to affect the agency’s bus, MAX and WES vehicles.
“While we do have a couple of bus lines that go through or are near the shutdown areas, we don’t expect any direct impacts to MAX, WES or our bus lines,” Graf said. “We do suggest people plan ahead if they’re traveling through the affected areas.”
The power companies have alerted residents around Oregon that power shutoffs may be enacted as early as Friday, as much of the western half of the state faces significant fire danger in the coming days, including low humidity, 90-degree temperatures and 40-mph winds.
Pacific Power says that roughly 12,000 customers in Linn, Douglas, Lincoln, Tillamook, Marion and Polk counties are likely to see power outages in response to high winds, specifically in Stayton east through the Santiam Canyon, Lebanon, Sweet Home, Lincoln City and Glide east along the Umpqua Highway.
The company said it plans to set up community resource centers for communities impacted by the outages.