08/10/2026
⚠️ UPDATE: THIS POST IS NO LONGER CURRENT
The information below reflects conditions and operational settings at the time it was originally posted and is being retained for reference only.
Fire weather conditions and Northern Lights' operational fire settings have since changed. Please refer to our most recent Operational Fire Settings update for current information.
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A quick update from Northern Lights this morning.
Fire conditions across North Idaho and Western Montana reached extremely high levels leading into this past weekend. In response, Northern Lights moved to our highest level of wildfire protection settings. Those operational changes are designed to reduce the risk of our electrical system contributing to a wildfire during periods of extreme fire danger, but they also increase the likelihood of outages and can result in longer restoration times.
Over the past several days, those settings, combined with an unusually high number of fault events across our system, created a challenging stretch for many of our members. We know repeated outages disrupted homes, businesses and daily routines, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
As fire weather conditions begin to moderate, we are able to make adjustments to portions of our system while remaining within our wildfire mitigation plan. Members should see two benefits from these changes. First, when an outage does occur, it is more likely to be isolated to a smaller area rather than affecting a larger section of the system. Second, by reducing the sensitivity of some protective devices where conditions safely allow, we expect the overall frequency of outages to decrease.
We do want to set clear expectations. We are still operating under our wildfire mitigation plan. That means every outage must still be patrolled and inspected by our line crews before power can be restored. While we hope outages become less frequent, restoration times may still be longer than members are accustomed to because ensuring the line is safe to reenergize remains our highest priority.
We remain committed to balancing reliability with our responsibility to reduce wildfire risk and protect the communities we serve across North Idaho and Western Montana. Thank you for your patience, your understanding, and your support of our crews who have worked tirelessly throughout this challenging period.
