PSE hires troopers after powerless customers threaten employees

Puget Sound Energy is hiring off-duty Washington State Patrol troopers to provide security at the utility's Olympia offices after some customers without power threatened PSE employees, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News has learned.

Last week's snow and ice storms knocked out nearly 400,000 customers or more than a third of PSE's 1.1 million electrical customers in Western Washington.  Thurston County is among the areas hardest-hit, and most of the 22,000 customers still without power on Tuesday were in the South Sound.

Another reason for the added security in Olympia is that officials are worried that with so many vehicles coming into the supply yard, metal thieves could slip in and steal wire or other supplies, said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News South Sound Bureau Chief Richard Thompson.

Meanwhile, frustration is building among people like Jay Fairbanks, whose Lacey home has been without power for six days.

"In trying to contact them, we just get a recording. We can't get through to a real person to talk to them about when they're coming or if they are coming," Fairbanks said.

Jay's daughter, who is also still without power at her own home, said she thinks that after nearly a week, PSE should have the lights back on.

"The response time -- going on a week -- seems to be a little excessive," she said.