Power issues Friday night briefly knocked out power across Billings and caused local refineries to burn off excess gas as a safety measure, according to a NorthWestern Energy spokeswoman.

Claudia Rapkoch said NorthWestern crews identified the preliminary cause of the 8:15 p.m. outage as circuit breakers that opened and closed at the Corette Steam Plant substation. She said it would take a few more days to conclude the investigation.

Flames could be seen spouting from the Conoco and Exxon refineries in Billings as well as CHS in Laurel. The flames were the result of "flare-ups," designed as a safety procedure to burn off excess gas during outages and similar situations while the refinery recovers.

The flare-ups prompted numerous calls to local fire departments.

The outage shut down the field lights during at least three local football games, in Billings, Shepherd and Laurel, as well.

In most cases, customers only experienced a short "blink" where the power was out for a second or two, but the Gazette also received e-mails reporting that much of Main Street was dark for a short time when the power bump hit, including MetraPark.

"The vast majority of customers would have noticed the blink," Rapkoch said. "That means the transmission system's working."

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NorthWestern investigating Billings outage

Gazette Staff

Power issues Friday night briefly knocked out power across Billings and caused local refineries to burn off excess gas as a safety measure, according to a NorthWestern Energy spokeswoman.

Claudia Rapkoch said NorthWestern crews were working to find out what caused the issue, which happened around 8:15 p.m. Friday.

She said this afternoon that NorthWestern was conducting a thorough investigation and hoped to have more information available sometime after 6 p.m.

Flames could be seen spouting from the Conoco and Exxon refineries in Billings as well as CHS in Laurel. The flames were the result of "flare-ups," designed as a safety procedure to burn off excess gas during outages and similar situations while the refinery recovers.

The flare-ups prompted numerous calls to local fire departments.

The outage shut down the field lights during at least three local football games, in Billings, Shepherd and Laurel, as well.

In most cases, customers only experienced a short "blink" where the power was out for a second or two, but the Gazette also received e-mails reporting that much of Main Street was dark for a short time when the power bump hit, including MetraPark.

"The vast majority of customers would have noticed the blink," Rapkoch said. "That means the transmission system's working."