H&N Staff Writer

July 7, 2010

     Everything from televisions to irrigation systems appear to have been damaged by a brownout that struck southern Klamath County and parts of Tulelake last week.

   An exact dollar estimate wasn’t known, but at least one irrigator said he estimated damage to his irrigation system and other property to be close to $50,000. One of his irrigation wells is still out of commission.

   “We were able to move some water around for the time being,” said Scott Balin, who has land at the southern end of Homedale Road.

   Thousands of Pacific Power customers lost power June 28 after a problem with a transmission line caused a brownout, impacting those between Miller Hill and the Klamath Hills and Highway 97 to Merrill.  

   The brownout led to a backup of heat in a variety of electrical devices, sparking a few fires and filling many homes with smoke.

   Monty Keady, training division chief for Klamath County Fire District No. 1, said four engines patrolled the Falcon Heights neighborhood and other engines from neighboring fire districts were on standby.    

    He was unable to say how many calls were reported, and not all were called into dispatchers.

   “I personally probably dealt with two dozen people,” he said.

   Balin said his pump house burned down because of the electrical short his system sustained. Various other electrical systems on his farm were also damaged, including his domestic well.

   An employee of Klamath Pump Center said she took 12 repair calls the morning after the brownout, and that more equipment was ordered from Medford to meet the demand. This is usually a busy time of year because of the irrigation season, but the business also received a lot of calls regarding domestic wells, she said.

   There also were reports of basic household devices being damaged, from televisions to Internet modems.

   Tom Gauntt, a spokesman for Pacific Power, said he didn’t the company didn’t have an overall damage estimate.