Stock image.

More than 18,000 Pacific Power customers were affected Thursday morning after a power outage turned off traffic lights and shut down businesses. The outage was first reported around 8:40 a.m., with power in some areas of the city restored as early as 9:20 a.m.

By late morning, Pacific Power had traced the issue back to the Bend substation near Mirror Pond. The cause? A squirrel.

“We’re still investigating, but we did find a squirrel that had gotten into the substation, so we believe it’s possibly animal interference,” said Simon Gutierrez, communications director for Pacific Power.

Gutierrez refuted reports that people near the substation were able to see an explosion. While it’s very possible people heard a loud noise associated with the outage, he “wouldn’t classify it as an explosion because there’s no ball of fire.” The event wasn’t something dangerous, he said.

As of noon, crews from Pacific Power were working all over the city to restore power. At that time, power had been restored for all but about 5,000 customers. The estimated time for the entire grid to be back up and running was 3 p.m., said Gutierrez.

The power outage initially affected eight schools throughout the Bend-La Pine school district. However, the power at three schools had already been restored by the time parents were notified of the issue. According to Scott Mabin, spokesperson for the school district, schools were open and kids were already in class when the power outage happened.

“As much as possible, teaching and learning goes on,” he said. “For the most part, teachers will continue to work and learning won’t be disrupted.”

Sheila Miller, spokesperson for the Bend Police Department, said no crashes were reported as a result of the power outage and that it isn’t procedure for the department to respond to such incidents.