Forest Fire Threatens Tacoma's Power Grid
A massive blaze near Orting threatens the Electron power plant, which supplies essential electricity to streetcars and homes in Tacoma and Seattle.
A great fire, which started Saturday afternoon in the woods near Orting, has already swept over 1,000 acres. At 2 o'clock this afternoon, the fire, pushed by a strong wind, is rapidly approaching the Electron power plant. Two hundred men are fighting the flames, but they are beyond control; only rain offers hope of containment. If the plant is destroyed, it will result in the loss of streetcar and interurban power for Tacoma, the White River Valley, and Seattle.
“If the Electron plant is burned it means a loss of street car and interurban power in Tacoma, the White river valley and Seattle.”
The vulnerability of the Electron plant in 1908 highlights how essential, centralized infrastructure was to the birth of the modern Puget Sound city. Today, this incident serves as a precursor to contemporary anxieties about climate change and the fragility of electrical grids against increasingly frequent wildfires.
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