BILLINGS — From snapped branches to downed power lines, Yellowstone County had the largest power outage in the entire United States at one point Thursday morning.
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With downed power lines across the city, it was a busy morning for the Billings Fire Department.
"In the first two hours this morning, we had about 35 calls for service, for utility-based incidents. You know, in a time period where we might ordinarily have three or five calls," said Jason Lyon, the battalion fire chief for the Billings Fire Department.
Around midnight, outages appeared in all districts of Billings, but especially in the Heights and northeastern region. Lyon says that's because the trees in those neighborhoods are older and have likely grown past the power lines.
"In more developed and more mature neighborhoods is where we're seeing the problem," Lyon said Thursday.
A father of two and Billings resident, Nicholas Van Mierlo, was one of the thousands in the Heights without power.
"We have a gas stove, so (I) used a camper lighter to light the gas and heated up the house that way," Van Mierlo told MTN Thursday.
Van Mierlo's power went out around 3:30 a.m. after snow caused tree branches to fall on a power line behind his house.
"Apparently, a tree got loaded down with snow, and pulled one of the power lines off the power poles in the alley... At least (my neighbor and I) lost power, at some point all of us lost power, but those all came back on," he said.
The power outages on Thursday weren't just in residential areas. Canyon Creek School students were released in the middle of the school day, after half of the building lost power and high water pressure.
"It was kind of weird," said student Andrew Thompson. "In first period we were in the tech lab, then all the sudden, just some of the computers turned off."
"I went to four different classrooms seeing if I could wash my hands. Yeah, the toilets wouldn't flush either. It was very interesting," said eighth grader Hannah Glover.
Students and parents who spoke to MTN after the dismissal said they were happy to have a long weekend and weren't disappointed with the news.
"I got to third period, water wasn't running, no one could use the bathroom, and then we got the huge intercom that said we could go home," Glover said.
"I remember we were in Mr. Brown's math class for third period and our class kind of went crazy, because we were so excited," said Thompson.
As emergency services and utility companies are repairing the damage, Lyon warns the public to stay safe and keep their distance from fallen power lines.
"The thing to be aware of, for a lot of people, it's hard to tell the difference between a communications line, like your internet or telephone, versus a power line... We just want to keep everyone safe," he said.
