Wire from crane hits Salt Lake power lines, knocking out power to nearly 12K customers

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SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 12,000 customers are without power after a wire from a crane knocked down several power lines in Sugar House Tuesday.

Emergency crews were on scene at 2100 South and 900 East, where the impact of the crane caused multiple power lines to fall to the ground.

It was initially reported that the crane itself fell on the power lines, but after further investigation, police on scene said a wire or line from the crane was what knocked the power lines down.

Salt Lake Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Mellor said as the crane was moving, getting ready to lift a load, the wind picked up and swung the crane around. The crane's heavy-duty cable hit the power lines across the street, shutting down the power.

A Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson said a transmission line that goes into a substation was damaged. Because of this, no power is flowing into that substation, which provides power for about 12,000 customers.

No fires or injuries have been reported. Traffic is being impacted on 900 East from 2100 South to 2700 South.

The outage lasted several hours, and as of 11 p.m., power was back up.

Contributing: Andrew Adams