Beetle kill prompts tree removal on MacDonald Pass

NorthWestern Energy will begin work next week to clear beetle-killed trees near a two-mile stretch of power lines on MacDonald Pass. Falling trees have increasingly knocked out residential power and forced emergency services to use backup generators to run communications towers on the pass.

Weve had a fair amount of problems on that line, said NorthWestern spokesman Butch Larcombe. As more of that beetle kill falls over weve seen a lot of outages. Its getting worse.

Outages have affected residential customers in the Elliston area and power to radio, TV and emergency dispatch towers on the pass. The towers are equipped with backup generators, and tower owners have been advised of the work and to have fuel on hand, he said.

Larcombe did not have the number of reported outages, but did call it the worst problem in our Helena division.

Work could begin as early as Feb. 2 and last through Feb. 20, he said.

Some of those towers support communications for emergency services in the Helena Valley, including the Montana Highway Patrol, and sheriff's office and fire department officials.

A message left for Peter Callahan, 911 Center manager for Lewis and Clark County/City of Helena, was not returned in time for this story.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton confirmed that the towers have seen power outages in the past.

Trees falling into power lines create a variety of hazards, including forest fires, said recently retired Deputy Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Pat McKelvey.

Right-of-way issues can make clearing dead trees near power lines challenging, but necessary, he said.

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Beetle kill prompts tree removal on MacDonald Pass