Squirrel cuts power to South Hill homes

A squirrel was responsible for a temporary loss of power on Spokane’s South Hill on Thursday that left 2,139 Avista Utilities customers without electricity for more than an hour.

Avista spokeswoman Debbie Simock said crews were working on a power line on the 3100 block of East 35th when the animal made contact with the line. Service was interrupted at 10:49 a.m. and was restored at 11:50 a.m.

“The squirrel population is down one today,” Simock said. “One of the largest causes of outages for us, especially in the summer, is squirrels coming into contact with lines.”