Power companies bring in helicopters to clear snow

Two local power companies took the unusual step Saturday of renting helicopters to fly directly over their power lines to blow off accumulated snow.

Heavy snow has caused power outages in Washington and North Idaho this week, particularly in areas served by Inland Power and Light and Kootenai Electric. Both companies announced the rental of helicopters Saturday.

On Saturday, Inland Power still had more than 5,500 customers without power, most of them in Spokane and Stevens counties. Kootenai Electric was down to nearly 700 customers without power in North Idaho. Both utilities have brought in extra crews to help with repairs.

Kooteai Electric operations manager Greg Hansen was quoted in a news release on Christmas as saying that the helicopters are necessary.

“Miles of our overhead lines have several inches of snow built up and one way or another, crews need to clear the snow off the lines in order to restore power and prevent further outages from occurring,” Hansen said.