Substation fire leaves hundreds without power in Hayden
Oct 2022Published 28 Sept 2026
Companies named in this entry: Jackson County REMC
What happened
On 12 October 2022 a power substation in northeastern Hayden caught fire, and hundreds of Hayden residents were without power for several hours. Jackson County REMC said its SCADA system showed one of its substations out at 5 p.m., and about 20 minutes later the substation at the corner of County Road 600 W and County Road 100 N was reported on fire. Firefighters did not fight the fire with water.
They watched to make sure it did not spread to a cornfield across the road or into nearby trees, and it burned itself out just over two hours after they arrived. How long it had been burning before it was reported was not known. About 1,850 people were without power. About 950 services were restored at around 6:20 p.m., and the remaining services just after 9 p.m. once the area was made safe.
The transformer, voltage regulators, some metering equipment and associated switches and disconnects were reported damaged beyond repair, with several weeks expected before the substation returned to normal operation.
Contributing factors
The utility believed a catastrophic fault inside the transformer released oil that was then ignited by an electrical arc. Because of the fire damage, it said the exact initial cause was unlikely ever to be known for certain.
Lessons learned
- Maintain rapid response protocols for switching feeds to neighbouring stations when a substation is lost.
- Coordinate promptly with transmission and substation owners when fire is reported.
- Plan for extended replacement lead times when major substation equipment is destroyed.
Source
Published 2026-09-28. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.