What Happened During the Recent Power Outage at Paris?

I had the pleasure of staying at Paris-Las Vegas during the power outage (Oct. 21) with people not knowing what was going on. We got different answers from every employee we talked to. We were locked out of the building for over five hours. Finally got a room after midnight. Exactly what happened. What a mess. What happened?

NV Energy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the shutdown was occasioned by “rodents that damaged a transfer switch for the property. The damage occurred off-property, but managed to knock out the power.”

We asked NV Energy’s Jennifer Schuricht if a rat or two could cripple a 3,000-room resort. “When a foreign object makes contact with energized equipment, the equipment will de-energize itself to prevent damage,” she replied.

Where, exactly, did the nibbling take place?

“It occurred in an NV Energy fuse cabinet that contained a transfer switch.” (A transfer switch transfers energy from a primary feeder to a secondary feeder.)

“NV Energy has some of the most reliable electric service in the nation,” Schuricht concludes, “but outages sometimes occur. In southern Nevada, some of the leading causes of power outages are storms, high wind, vehicles hitting our equipment and mylar balloons.”

We’ve seen lots of the latter, but hungry rats are apparently a relatively minor problem. "We do see outages caused by rodents occasionally," Ms. Schuricht admits.

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Comments

Dave Dec-03-2020

What happened IN PARIS?

I think you missed the point of the original question.

I think the question was not why was there a power failure, but why was there a total breakdown of communications among the staff.

KRock S Dec-03-2020

Rat control

I'm a little concerned that, for all the $$ they rake in, that rats running around is being talked about as if it's perfectly normal. Maybe it is in the trash rooms but in electrical/mechanical rooms?? They need to protect the property if they are going to protect the people who stay there.

KennyA Dec-03-2020

Krock

"off property" usually means out of the casino's control. The damage was done on the electric company's property.

Sean Lowery Dec-03-2020

What Happened

@Dave. The answer is reasonable.  When has there ever been a unified, clear answer among large numbers of people during a chaotic event?  Think about it.  It takes time to sort it out.  That's reasonable.

Jackie Dec-03-2020

Rodents

during colder weather will seek warmer places to reside, even make nests.  Electrical equipment with power flowing through creates heat providing a warm abode and provides some nest making materials hence the chewing through.

Once the power went out to no fault of the casino property who had absolutely no clue as to why created "guessing" mode of reasoning by the staff and why so many different answers.  Keeping people out allowed for safe, quick, and uninterrupted investigation of the property for a reason for the power loss.  Of course the property also called NV Energy reporting the outage and was told it was under investigation.  Therefore Paris kept people out until power was restored and no immediate internal casino/hotel damage or unsafe condition existed.

Mark Hotzel Dec-03-2020

What Really Happened

Everyone is missing what really happened.  A rogue group of 11 used a florescent green EMP to disable the power at Paris.  This to gain access to the vault in Terry Benedict's casino.

David Sabo Dec-03-2020

It happens

While working at a GM truck manufacturing plant we had a  small bird "short" the sub station where the voltage is knocked down. All we found was a bird beak and some feathers in the sub station.

Question of the Day - 03 December 2020

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