Power restored on Rathdrum Prairie

Electrical power was knocked out to about 3,900 customers of Avista Utilities this morning in the Rathdrum Prairie area, but was restored about 9 a.m. A pole fire was blamed for the outage that started after 4 a.m. today, a spokeswoman said. Crews had to replace the pole before electrical power could be restored. The area affected was north of the Spokane River, south of Prairie Avenue, west of Huetter and east of state Highway 41.