Tribe: Power Outage Goes Smoothly In Fort Hall Area

Thanks to advance emergency planning, Shoshone-Bannock tribal officials say a planned overnight power outage was uneventful.

The Idaho Power Company outage affected 924 residents and 820 Fort Hall homes. Twenty-four of the affected residents were identified as high-alert medical risks, including some on dialysis.

The outage was planned to allow for major infrastructure improvements.

Tribal spokesperson Randy’L Teton says 40 tribal staff including leadership, fire, ambulance and safety personnel provided high-profile patrols of the community from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

The tribe’s Emergency Operations Center opened early Wednesday night to prepare for the planned eight-hour outage, which Idaho Power expanded Wednesday.