California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of
Posted: June 6th, 2022, 8:05 pm
Those of us who were around in the summer of 2004 remember the Westwing Substation transformer fire in Peoria that took out 1/3rd of the valley's electrical switching capacity. An old transformer had leaked oil and the old breaker which SHOULD have tripped failed to do so. As the oil emptied out of the transformer, it caused a fault and it burst into flames, catching 5 other transformers on fire and destroying them.
It was July 4th, and the middle of summer; peak demand season for electricity to cool Phoenix homes.
The transformer that failed wasn't just your average transformer. It was a gigantic beast made by Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan, weighing 200 tons. It normally takes 18 months to order, manufacture, transport and install one of these behemoths,...but the entire Phoenix metro area was on power rationing and experiencing rolling blackouts in various quadrants until the replacement could occur. It was a heck of an operation to get one located, transported and installed before the end of summer.
But ever since then, some of us have been aware that an attack as simple as a single man with a rifle could sit outside a transformer station and, if he knew where to aim, could perforate a transformer's oil reservoir, causing it to fail. The nightmare scenario was several riflemen, coordinating their attacks on different various strategic transformer stations, causing not just 1/3rd loss of power to a major metro area, but perhaps total loss. No A/C, no pumping of water, no pumping of gas, no freezers at the market. Chaos would ensue.
Then, 2013, someone seems to have tried it in San Jose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_s ... te_note-15
To this day, the incident remains unresolved, with no suspects. Fortunately, this time, the breakers worked and there was no catastrophic fire destroying the entire facility. But 15 million dollars worth of damage with just a couple rifles. And what if they had done this at several locations. Security experts have suggested armoring transformers, but to my knowledge, this has not yet been done anywhere.
As we enter summer and BLM and other lefty terrorists look to hit the reset button on society,...keep in the back of your mind how fragile our life support systems here in the desert (and everywhere else) are.
It was July 4th, and the middle of summer; peak demand season for electricity to cool Phoenix homes.
The transformer that failed wasn't just your average transformer. It was a gigantic beast made by Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan, weighing 200 tons. It normally takes 18 months to order, manufacture, transport and install one of these behemoths,...but the entire Phoenix metro area was on power rationing and experiencing rolling blackouts in various quadrants until the replacement could occur. It was a heck of an operation to get one located, transported and installed before the end of summer.
But ever since then, some of us have been aware that an attack as simple as a single man with a rifle could sit outside a transformer station and, if he knew where to aim, could perforate a transformer's oil reservoir, causing it to fail. The nightmare scenario was several riflemen, coordinating their attacks on different various strategic transformer stations, causing not just 1/3rd loss of power to a major metro area, but perhaps total loss. No A/C, no pumping of water, no pumping of gas, no freezers at the market. Chaos would ensue.
Then, 2013, someone seems to have tried it in San Jose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_s ... te_note-15
To this day, the incident remains unresolved, with no suspects. Fortunately, this time, the breakers worked and there was no catastrophic fire destroying the entire facility. But 15 million dollars worth of damage with just a couple rifles. And what if they had done this at several locations. Security experts have suggested armoring transformers, but to my knowledge, this has not yet been done anywhere.
As we enter summer and BLM and other lefty terrorists look to hit the reset button on society,...keep in the back of your mind how fragile our life support systems here in the desert (and everywhere else) are.