California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of

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Suck My Glock
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California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of

#1

Post by Suck My Glock »

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.
Last edited by Suck My Glock on June 7th, 2022, 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of

#2

Post by SupportTheSecond »

I remember that having been in that hell hole of a state then. It was one of the reasons I got interested in prepping. My advice is to always have at least six months of food and water for each person in your household along with all the other many bits and pieces for survival.
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Re: California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of

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Post by BigNate »

Not saying that it didn't happen... but I'm having trouble getting my head around this timeline (from the referenced wikipedia article):
1:41 a.m. – Santa Clara County Sheriff's department received a 911 call about gunfire, sent by an engineer at a nearby power plant that still had phone service.
1:45 a.m. – The first bank of transformers, riddled with bullet holes and having leaked 52,000 US gallons (200,000 l; 43,000 imp gal) of oil, overheated, whereupon PG&E's control center about 90 miles (140 km) north received an equipment-failure alarm.
1:50 a.m. – Another apparent flashlight signal, caught on film, marked the end of the attack. More than 100 expended 7.62×39mm cases were later found at the site.
Gunfire reported at 1:41 AM - continuing through 1:50 AM... and "more than 100" 7.62X39 shell casings...

OK - I'm thinking two things...
1) Metal thick enough to contain more than 50K gallons of oil and 7.62X39 is punching through it? OK - well - maybe...
2) 52,000 US gallons of thick liquid leaked out of the reservoir through 100ish .30" holes in 4 minutes? It's been a long time since I took fluid dynamics - but leaking that volume of fluid in that amount of time, in my mind, only happens if there is a REALLY big split in the reservoir.

Again - not saying that it didn't happen - I'm guessing that the account from the referenced Wikipedia article has some timeline issues.
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Re: California transformer power station sniper attack 9 years ago - the terrorism incident you probably never heard of

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Post by Suck My Glock »

Well that's weird.

No sooner do I post this thread,...all 3 Winchester ammo plants in Oxford, Mississippi are off line due to a massive transformer explosion knocking out power. (I have not yet been able to verify this at the moment.)

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