Why officials cut power to Mt. Charleston when it’s windy

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The weekend wind storms left Mount Charleston residents without power Sunday, but it wasn’t due to downed power lines.

When storms hit the mountain especially with our dry conditions, NV Energy cuts power to the mountain so a downed power lines does not cause a wildfire. The utility notified customers beforehand so those up on Mount Charleston were ready.

Don Ham has lived here with his wife for three years.

“With this new effort being made we’re getting more shutdowns,” he said.

He learned quickly that to live up on Mount Charleston a generator is a must.

“If you turn off the electricity for a longtime you can lose all your food in the refrigerator and of course you don’t have lights,” he said.

A work crew on a job at a home learned they were without power when they got on site Monday morning.

“We got up here around 7 o’clock started plugging everything in and no power,” said Steven Sandoval of Foundation Stabilization.

He had to drive back to town to get a portable generator.

By the time he got back to the job site, the power was back on.

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