Power outage near Airway Heights caused by bird

A power outage Sunday morning near Airway Heights was determined to be caused by a bird.

The outage, impacting 1,014 Inland Power customers, occurred after a bird landed on a power line surge arrester, according to Inland Power’s spokesperson Jennifer Lutz.

The bird did not survive the incident.

Power was restored by 2 p.m. Sunday to nearly all customers. Lutz said the company plans to install bird deterrent equipment to the line to prevent a reoccurrence of the situation.

Animals are a common cause of power outages in the region, Lutz said, with birds and squirrels instigating many like the one Sunday morning; snakes also can interfere with underground power lines.

Inland Power installs deterrents in many cases that involve animal culprits.