Two apparent acts of vandalism that cut electricity to most residents in Wahpeton, N.D., and some in Breckenridge, Minn., early today could be considered acts of terrorism, a spokeswoman for Otter Tail Power Co. said.
About 1,800 customers were affected by the power outage, spokeswoman Cris Kling said.
Bolts were removed and switches were opened at two separate locations, according to Kling and Wahpeton Police Chief Scott Thorsteinson said.
Thorsteinson said those responsible appeared to know what they were doing.
"They obviously, I believe, had to have had tools ... and knowledge of how it worked," he said. "I wouldn't have messed with something like that."
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Kling said someone who's mechanically inclined would be able to look at the switch and probably figure out how to open it, but then they'd be exposed to other dangers inside the electrical box.
"This goes beyond even the danger to the person who was messing with the switches and the danger to people who rely on electricity, like for an oxygen machine or something like that, when their power goes out," she said. "It goes beyond that into the realm of terrorism."
A police officer noticed the first power outage at 2:27 a.m., affecting the north side of Wahpeton, Thorsteinson said.
He said he happened to wake up at 2:50 a.m. and was looking at the clock when the power went out on the south side of town.
Otter Tail Power crews restored the switches and reported the outages as vandalism. Electricity was restored to all customers by 3:30 a.m., Kling said.
Police had no suspects, as the investigation was just getting under way, Thorsteinson said.
The outage set off a number of alarms in the city, but otherwise caused no major problems, Thorsteinson said. Still, police are taking it seriously, as the loss of power could have affected people with medical issues and sump pumps, he said.
Kling said the vandal or vandals opened a distribution line switch and a larger 41.6-kilovolt transmission line switch.
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The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
