(Added 12:10 pm: Map of outages)
11:19 AM: Thanks for the tip: The Seattle City Light map shows 184 homes/businesses out in Highland Park/Puget Ridge, along 16th SW. No word on the cause yet; Brian says via e-mail, “Explosion was heard toward SSC and then power went out.”
12:03 PM: Checking the SCL site for an update, we see another 299 customers went out just west of the original outage zone, mostly along 21st SW, about half an hour ago. (updated) Added a map image for both outages.
1:19 PM: Tipster Aaron notes that SFD is/was checking out transformers near Riverview Playfield. Meantime, the newer, westernmost outage has dropped in size by about a third.
8:46 PM: As this has stretched on for so long, we tried SCL’s after-hours media pager and just got a call back. The outage was caused by a fire at the base of a pole in the greenbelt by SW Holly – the cause hasn’t been determined – but it’s been difficult for crews to access; they’re “close” to restoration, the spokesperson says.
10:17 PM: We noticed a few minutes ago that the outage was down to 191 customers. And we just got a text that power’s come back on at 21st/Holly. The map might not reflect that immediately.
10:40 PM: Looks like that was it – all but a handful are reconnected, after ~12 hours.