Oregon Trail Electric Co-op is asking its members with electrical power in the area to use the bare minimum and conserve for emergency services.

Despite a wildfire burning directly along its path, OTEC’s 138 kilovolt transmission feed from Hines into the John Day area held for a second night.

Of the four transmission lines feeding into the John Day/Canyon City area, one is burned and gone. One owned by Idaho Power was still burning Saturday evening, and at least 19 poles are down. One small 69kV feeding in from Cow Valley to Unity can carry a maximum of seven megawatts. During peak periods, John Day takes 15MWe.

OTEC teams of stakers and linemen were dispatched Sunday to Stices Gulch, Alder Creek, Ebel Creek, Dry Creek, Pleasant Valley, Beaver Creek and Denny Creek areas to begin assessments and create a restoration plan.

“You will see OTEC crews out there in full attack mode,” said Ned Ratterman, OTEC’s director of engineering and operations. “Once everything is done smoldering, our crews are in these areas immediately evaluating the situation and testing the safety of every single pole.

“A lot of them are across rugged country. They will look great from one side, and when you get up next to them, they are burned all the way through on the back side.”

Ratterman asked customers with generators to disconnect them from OTEC lines. The generators could feed back into the OTEC system and hurt ground crews making repairs, he said.

For fire and evacuation Information, call 541-523-2905.

Additional updates are available through the OTEC website (www.otecc.com) and Facebook.