Widespread outage leaves thousands without power across Union County
A wildfire near Cabbage Hill cut power to Union County, affecting about 11,000 people and forcing hospitals, roads and radio stations onto backup systems.
A wildfire near Cabbage Hill knocked out power across much of Union County on June 16, forcing Grande Ronde Hospital onto generator power, interrupting Oregon Department of Transportation communications in La Grande and briefly taking local radio stations offline. The outage spread through La Grande, Island City and other communities, with Elkhorn Media Group first reporting about 11,000 people affected and later saying roughly 12,500 residents were still listed without power during an update.
Grande Ronde Hospital moved quickly to protect its most vulnerable patients. The La Grande hospital said it was prioritizing critical care areas after switching to generator power, and asked people not to come in unless they were experiencing a medical emergency. Urgent care was closed during the outage, a significant disruption for a facility that normally sees patients every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The hospital is a critical access hospital and Level IV Trauma Center, and it has served Union County since 1907.
The outage also hit transportation and communications. ODOT’s Region 5 office in La Grande reported that office email and some communications systems were unavailable because nearby maintenance facilities were affected. Drivers were warned to use caution, expect dark traffic signals and nonworking roadside signs, and treat unlit signals as four-way stops. Even Elkhorn Media Group’s La Grande office lost power temporarily, underscoring how broadly the outage reached into the county’s day-to-day information network.
Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative later said the outage had been reported at 1:14 p.m. and restored to all member-owners by 2:40 p.m. on June 16. OTEC said the outage resulted from the wildfire near Cabbage Hill, and communications manager Shiraz Mukarram said crews immediately assessed the situation and restored service. Members can report outages by calling 1-866-430-4265 or texting outage to 541-406-6980.
The disruption recalled another major Union County outage in January 2024, when about 4,600 to 5,000 members in the La Grande-Island City area lost power. This latest incident showed again how quickly wildfire conditions can ripple through health care, traffic control, communications and household routines in a rural county.
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