More than 4500 homes and businesses left without power in Mid West after damp weather causes pole fires

More than 4500 homes across the Mid West were without power after a series of weather-induced pole fires triggered blackouts across the city and region.

The outages, which began in the early hours of Thursday morning, stretched across Geraldton, Waggrakine, Webberton, Spalding and Wonthella, reaching as far north as Horrocks, Binnu and Ajana in the shires of Northampton, Chapman Valley and Irwin.

Homes and businesses as far east as Devils Creek just south of Mullewa, and Mt Adams, east of Port Denison, were also left without power.

A Western Power spokesperson confirmed pole-top fires damaged infrastructure in the Mid West area.

They said the pole-top fires were primarily a result of moisture damaging the poles after a stint of hot and dry weather.

“Pole-top fires can occur during light drizzling rain or misty damp conditions when a combination of recent dust and pollution builds up to create paths or ‘tracks’ on the insulators, enabling electricity to jump across. This tracking electricity can heat elements of the pole infrastructure to a point where they smoulder and burn,” the spokesperson said.

Restoration times across the region varied, but it was estimated power would be back on between 5pm and 6.30pm on Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, Western Power confirmed it was still working to bring power back to 3800 customers across Geraldton and the Mid West.

“Each pole change can take between four to eight hours, depending on the type of pole, and unfortunately some customers may be without power until later in the day,” the Western Power spokesperson said.

All shops in Geraldton Northgate Shopping Centre, aside from Coles, were without power for the duration of the morning. The generator keeping Coles afloat during the outage stopped for a short time before coming back on about midday.

Mid West Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Joanne Fabling said the flow-on effects of the outages would be felt “for weeks if not months”.

Ms Fabling said smaller businesses required a certain amount of overheads to be covered each day in order to be profitable, which could mean small businesses were now playing catch up.

The retail, hospitality and tourism industries would feel the effects of the outages the most, according to Ms Fabling.

“We are not looking at businesses that can work from home, you don’t have that capacity if you’re a cafe or restaurant,” she said.

The impact on the region’s reputation was also another concern for Ms Fabling, who said consistent outages experienced across the region can be a deterrent for people wanting to visit or investors looking to bring business to Geraldton.

“Long term we are at capacity for outages in this region. We are really dire on pushing forward,” Ms Fabling said.