Tacoma Community College plunged into darkness as mystery electrical problem hits campus
Tacoma Community College has been in the dark since Sunday, and the college isn’t entirely sure when the problem will be fixed. Classes have been canceled through Thursday.
The problem began around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when four buildings on the campus at South 19th and South Mildred Streets in Tacoma lost electricity, said college spokeswoman Tamyra Howser.
Because one of those buildings houses the school’s information technology (IT) department, the loss took out the school’s computer servers, phones, internet and other crucial systems. Both the Tacoma and Gig Harbor campuses would open late on Monday, it was announced.
Gig Harbor didn’t have any electrical issues, but it’s dependent on the Tacoma IT department, Howser said.
Crews spent Monday morning digging up electrical systems and making repairs. The problem was traced to a fault in a 12,500-volt feeder circuit, officials said.
Crews thought they had fixed the problem, and power was restored in the afternoon. Systems came back on line Monday, but the two campuses were unable to open.
Then the power went out again Monday evening.
“This time, it’s out on the entire campus,” Howser said. “It’s bigger than we think.”
Crews started digging again. Most of the school’s electrical infrastructure is from 1965 and custom-built, staff said.
Faced with an uncertain problem, the school canceled classes on the Tacoma campus through Thursday. Classes at the Gig Harbor campus will resume Wednesday.
“It’s going to take us time to figure out what’s failing,” Howser said.
TCC’s staff, Tacoma Public Utilities and electricians were busy trying to locate the problem Tuesday, Howser said. Generators were installed to power two buildings on the Tacoma campus: the one that houses the IT department and another that is a science building filled with electricity-dependent equipment.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 8:03 PM.
