"There was equipment failure on that pole," said Herman Mack, the director of public works and utilities for the village of Sauk City. "It was on the transmission line that comes into Sauk City and Prairie du Sac."

According to American Transmission Co. spokeswoman Anne Spaltholz, insulation on the 69-kilovault, main transmission line into the communities failed at around 5 p.m. and caused a small fire.

Mack said the insulator on the pole most likely had a small crack and broke apart causing the live wire to touch the pole and start a fire, which was quickly extinguished.

Power was cut until a new insulator could be brought down from Baraboo, Mack said.

While Prairie du Sac and Sauk City have separate utilities, Mack said both rely on the transmission line into the villages for conveying power to their substations.

Mack said the power outage was unexpected.

"It’s like your furnace in the house, you never know when you’re going to have equipment failure," Mack said.

Photo by Todd Krysiak / Sauk Prairie Eagle

Vehicles cross the dark Highway 12 bridge outside Sauk City as the sun sets behind the village Oct. 27. A problem with a transmission line outside Sauk Prairie led to a 2-hour power outage at dusk in Sauk City and Prairie du Sac.