Zephyr Cove power plant fire left thousands in the dark

UPDATE 12:42PM - Power has now been restored to all customers.

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UPDATE 12:00PM - Power is still out to 2,418 NV Energy customers. The power company estimates they will have power restored by 2:00 p.m. Monday. All Liberty Utilities customers have had their electricity restored.

Tahoe Douglas Fire Department responded to a fire caused by a power substation malfunction at the NV Energy substation on Sewer Plant Road in Zephyr Cove. They were able to keep the fire contained to that substation. Two backup power lines have not yet been put into service so power to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe will take longer to be restored. The Kingsbury backup line is still under construction, and the Glenbrook line was damaged in the Carson Fire.

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UPDATE 9:40AM - All California customers have had their power restored.
Over 5,000 NV Energy customers are without still.

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UPDATE 9:15AM - NV Energy crews are on their way to the power station at Round Hill to assess the damage. Power outages are from South Lake Tahoe to Glenbrook, over in Alpine County and on the valley side of Douglas County.

"No estimated restoration time yet but customers are advised to prepare for extended outage," said Kathy Carter of Liberty Utilities.

According to Tahoe Douglas Fire there was a mechanical failure in the system that caused a fire. That fire is contained.

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UPDATE 9:00AM - There are now 8,300 people without power on the California side of Lake Tahoe according to Liberty Utilities, 8,372 out on the Nevada side according to NV Energy.

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Crews have responded to a structure fire at the NV Energy plant off Hwy 50 in Zephyr Cove. Over 5,000 Nevada Energy customers have lost power as a result as well as over 2,000 South Lake Tahoe Liberty Energy customers.

The fire is contained but it is unknown how electrical customers will be affected the rest of the day.

This is a developing story.