Broken transmission tower causes outage

A broken electrical transmission tower was blamed for a loss of power this morning to 6,600 Avista Utilities customers in north central Spokane. An Avista spokeswoman said power circuits were rerouted and service to the North Side was restored at 7:50 a.m., about an hour after the outage. Sheriff’s deputies went to the scene and reported smoke in the area and lines down from the broken structure near Rimrock Drive west of Spokane Falls Community College. The cause of the failure was not immediately known.